SINGAPORE — A Myanmar domestic worker who was imprisoned for life in 2023 for murdering her employer’s mother-in-law has had her sentence reduced to 17 years by the Court of Appeal here today.

Zin Mar Nwe, 24, stabbed the 70-year-old woman 26 times on June 25, 2018, after being threatened with being sent back to her agent.

She was only 17 at the time of the offence, though her passport falsely listed her age as 23, the legal minimum for working as a helper in Singapore.

The Court of Appeal amended her murder conviction to culpable homicide not amounting to murder after accepting that she had been provoked, The Straits Times reported.

In its ruling, the court said the provocation was “grave and sudden” as the woman’s threat endangered the maid’s employment and livelihood.

The judges noted that her youth, immaturity, family debt and history of physical abuse by the elderly woman amplified the impact of the threat.

The panel, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon with Justices Tay Yong Kwang and See Kee Oon, also observed that the attack was brutal and involved a weapon.

However, they rejected the prosecution’s claim that Zin Mar Nwe tried to conceal her crime, despite her washing the knife and leaving it in the kitchen.

The court said she did not take meaningful steps to escape and even returned to her agency knowing she could be arrested.

The victim’s identity is protected under a gag order because one of the trial witnesses was under 18 years old.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan had asked for a sentence of 18 to 20 years, while defence lawyers Josephus Tan and Cory Wong sought 14 to 18 years.

Zin Mar Nwe, who came to Singapore in January 2018 to support her debt-ridden family, bowed her head after hearing the 17-year sentence through an interpreter.