By Simon Khoo

ONE afternoon more than a year ago, Jaharah Daud, 77, took a cup of coffee not knowing that her maid had poisioned the drink.

Jaharah complained to her daughter that the coffee tasted bitter, had a certain smell and had turned grey.

Her daughter felt something was amiss and checked a vegetable soup that the maid had prepared. The soup had the same smell as the coffee.

The daughter suspected that the drink and soup had been poisoned and lodged a police report.

Police went to the house and found two bottles of poison, one on a sink and the other in a cupboard in the kitchen.

The maid, Nurhayati Ahmad, 27, was arrested and Jaharah was sent to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital in Kuantan for treatment.

A chemistry report confirmed that Jaharah had been poisoned.

Nurhayati was jailed six years for attempted murder by the Kuantan Sessions Court on Monday.

It is not known what prompted her to commit the venomous act.

Her lawyer Mohd Fadly Hashim said Nurhayati had pleaded guilty and needed to return home to Lombok, Indonesia to look after her eight siblings.

He said both the maid's parents were dead and urged the court to pass a lighter sentence.

The offence, under Section 307 (1) of the Penal Code, carries a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine, or up to 20 years if the act had resulted in injuries to the intended person.

Sessions judge Siti Aminah Ghazali ordered the jail term to start from the date of Nurhayati's arrest on July 16 last year.

Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat urged for a deterrent sentence as attempted murder was a serious offence.