LYING in her hospital bed, likely to be paralysed from her waist down, Indonesian maid Siti had only one thought on her mind.

I am going home.

When The New Paper visited Ms Siti, she seemed oblivious of her fractured spine. Or that both her knees, pelvic bone and left arm are broken. All she could talk about was going home to Indonesia.

The flat was on the 11th storey, but that didn't deter the maid, who had just been transferred to her new employer four days before the incident.

In the early hours of the morning, while her employers were still asleep, Ms Siti, 24, climbed out of the window and made her way precariously down the side of the block in darkness.

Holding on to the bamboo pole holders under the kitchen window, she swung her legs down, searching for the ledge of the flat below.

From there, she would stretch her legs down again, finding her footing on the bamboo pole holders of the next storey.

She carefully worked her way down toward the ground without anyone noticing.

And she almost made it all the way.

Ms Siti recalled that she had climbed down to the third floor by standing and holding onto the bamboo pole holders.

But when she got to the third storey, she slipped on the holders, which were wet, and fell to the ground.

A resident heard a loud thud and called the police. The police confirmed they received a call at about 5.50am on 16 Jan about a woman who had fallen. Ms Siti was found with multiple fractures and taken to hospital.

Her employers were told by doctors that she is likely to be paralysed from the waist down.

Recalling the incident, her employer, Mr Law, said: 'My wife woke up at about 7am and couldn't find the maid.

'Then the police came to knock on the door and said there was a maid found downstairs.

'It was a shock, but such a relief that she was alive.'

Mr Law, a shipyard worker, said neither he nor his wife knew that Ms Siti had wanted to return home.

'She was with us for four days only. She seemed okay... She never said anything to us about wanting to go back. If she did tell us, we would have just sent her back.

'It was only at the hospital that she said she had told the agency.'

Now, Mr Law is saddled with a $50,000 hospital bill.

RETURNED TO AGENCY

Ms Siti first came to Singapore last October.

She worked with another employer for a few months, but was returned to the agency and then hired by Mr Law.

The New Paper visited Ms Siti in hospital on Monday.

She could not move, except for her right arm and head. She didn't express much emotion but, when asked about leaving for home the next day, she smiled.

It was as if the prospect of going home to Central Java caused her to momentarily forget her injuries.

The maid, who is single, also said she had not been abused.

When asked if she tried to escape because she had been mistreated, she said: 'No. I just wanted to go home.'

Then why didn't she walk out of the front door? Ms Siti said she didn't have the key.

She also said she had not told her new employers that she wanted to return to Indonesia as she didn't want to upset them.

However, she said that she had told the maid agency after she was sent back by her first employers that she wanted to return home.

Ms Siti said: '(The agency) told me I had to pay back my loan before I could go back.

'Then they said to wait a while, to pay the loan, then I can go.'

Her agency denies that she had said she wanted to return home.

Ms Siti's loan amounts to about $2,000.

Ms Siti said she couldn't get used to life here.

All she could think of was home - so she climbed out the window.

Wasn't she scared? Didn't she think it was dangerous?

Ms Siti said: 'I was scared, but I thought that (to climb down) was my only option.'

She returned to Indonesia on Tuesday on a normal commercial flight, accompanied by a nurse. She will be sent to a hospital there.