- Joined
- Apr 9, 2009
- Messages
- 3,070
- Points
- 0
She has not paid $150,000 in legal costs owed to three churchgoers in failed lawsuit
A failed lawsuit, which a woman took against a Catholic church, two priests and six churchgoers over an alleged exorcism, is coming back to haunt her.
Three of the churchgoers whom Madam Amutha Valli Krishnan, 53, sued in 2006 are now applying to the courts to make her a bankrupt.
Madam Valli owes the trio – Mr Benny Tan Chin Beng, Mr Nasrom Abdullah and Ms Cheong Lai Meng – a total of $150,000 in costs that the court ordered her to pay as a result of her lawsuit.
The trio had been defended by lawyer Anthony Lee in Madam Valli’s lawsuit.
She had claimed that she had been attacked and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the priests and other churchgoers forced an exorcism on her at the Novena Church in Thomson Road in August 2004.
She claimed the three churchgoers were helping the two priests hold her down in a botched exorcism attempt, and subsequently caused her to suffer from the stress disorder.
The priests and their helpers said this was not the case, adding that Madam Valli had appeared to be possessed. They admitted praying over her, but denied that it was an exorcism ritual.
After a lengthy trial, which was repeatedly disrupted by Madam Valli’s emotional breakdowns in court, the former national race walker and private tutor had her case thrown out by the judge.
In the bankruptcy application filed last Wednesday, Mr Lee said they had issued statutory demands to Madam Valli last November, but had not received any payments.
“We are proceeding because there has been no payment or proposals for payment from her at all,” said Mr Lee when contacted by The Straits Times.
The case will be heard in the High Court later this month.
Last year, three other churchgoers, represented by lawyer Denis Tan, also started legal proceedings to try to get back a sum of $150,000.
They applied for a writ of seizure and a bailiff went to Madam Valli’s flat in Ang Mo Kio, but seized only about $1,000 worth of items.
She was also ordered to pay a total of $73,000 in disbursements to the Novena Church and the two priests, Father Jacob Ong and Father
Simon Tan, for expenses they had incurred during the trial.
Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim, who acted for Father Jacob, and lawyer Tito Isaac, who represented the church and Father Simon, said they did this case pro bono.
Their clients have not instructed them to take any action to recover the money owed to them by Madam Valli.
Madam Valli told The Straits Times that she can afford to pay the three people who have applied to make her a bankrupt, but she will not do so because it was “against her principles”.
She said she was willing to pay Ms Cheong, but not the two men, as Ms Cheong had cared for her on the night of the alleged exorcism.
