Singapore
She once talked of feigning illness for gain, claims sister
Selina Lum
18 July 2008
Straits Times
English
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Estranged sibling says Madam Valli had spoken about a plan to
get $200k
MADAM Amutha Valli Krishnan, the woman who
claimed she was traumatised by a forced ‘exorcism’, once planned to
fake a mental illness for financial gain, her estranged sister said
yesterday in court.
Madam Santha Krishnan, 48, said her older sister was
‘money-minded’ and had faked trances before.
‘I love her but it doesn’t mean I have to keep quiet when she’s
doing something wrong,’ said Madam Santha, who has not spoken to
her sister in 14 years.
She was a witness yesterday for several Novena churchgoers who
are being sued by Madam Valli. The 52-year-old claimed she was
traumatised by an ‘exorcism’ four years ago.
‘I have known her to be a money-minded person and feel that she
is bringing this action against the church and other defendants for
money,’ she said.
Before the sisters severed ties in 1994, she said that Madam
Valli had talked about a plan to use a mental illness to get
$200,000.
Madam Santha came forward to testify for the defendants after
reading a newspaper report about the Novena Church lawsuit last
year.
On the witness stand, she described a stormy relationship with
her sister, whom she claimed had once threatened to douse her with
acid.
Madam Santha said that Madam Valli began going into peculiar
trances as a teen. In one, she began hissing, slithering on the
floor and asking for milk and eggs. An egg was placed before her
and she glided over it and stayed there for a few minutes. ‘When
she moved off, we saw that the egg was empty and there was a small
hole in the egg.’
Madam Santha said she had initially thought that the episodes
were involuntary, but later realised that her sister could go into
a trance at will, though she faked them sometimes.
Her doubts began when she saw Madam Valli, who was raised a
Hindu but says she is a Christian, get a scolding from her husband
for pretending to go into a trance.
Madam Santha, who said she could also go into trances, said a
real episode would not happen in a place of worship of another
religion.
She portrayed Madam Valli as a very determined person who could
sit ‘like a statue’ for hours to get what she wanted.
She described her relationship with Madam Valli as close but
tumultuous.
In their teenage years, Madam Valli drove a wedge between Madam
Santha and their parents.
Madam Santha said that she stopped seeing her sister in 1984
after Madam Valli threatened to throw acid on her.
They reconciled in 1994, but things soured again when Madam Valli
became jealous of her new flat.
In 1998, Madam Valli invited her sister to a religious ceremony
but Madam Santha returned the invitation with a note saying:
‘Consider me dead’.
Madam Valli replied with a letter threatening to beat her up and
Madam Santha made a police report.
Madam Valli’s lawyer, Mr R.S. Bajwa, accused Madam Santha of
siding with the church and lying about the fake trances because she
was filled with hatred for her sister.
Madam Santha said that she was not angry despite their history.
‘She’s my sister and I still love her,’ she said.
[email protected]
About this case
HOUSEWIFE Santha Krishnan, 48, is the younger
sister of Madam Amutha Valli Krishnan, who has filed a lawsuit
seeking compensation for an alleged exorcism forced on her at the
Novena Church on Aug 10, 2004.
Madam Valli, 52, has sued the Redemptorist Order that runs the
church, two priests and six churchgoers, claiming she was
traumatised by it.
Madam Santha is testifying for three of the churchgoers.
Her account of Madam Valli going into snake-like trances supports
the defendants’ version of events.
The hearing resumes on Monday with psychiatrists for the defence
expected to take the stand.
