For 28-year-old Nurdamim, born in Singapore, the opportunity to work in Malaysia was a ticket to hope, a chance to build a different path from the one she grew up on. What she couldn’t have imagined was that her employers wouldn’t be bosses, but rather tormentors. Nur started working as a maid in Mohamed and Eticá’s house .
This etiquette is a former finalist on MasterChef Malaysia. She went there to look after the property and help care for the couple’s three children. But inside that house, which on social media shone as the home of a successful couple, Nur was found lifeless, toothless, her body covered in wounds and suffering from a generalized infection.
How can some people feel so superior that they believe their lives are worth more than another person’s life, to the point of simply torturing them for fun? And the best part is, they recorded all of this with cell phone cameras so that the children could watch it again and again, ensuring that this feeling of fun would never end.
Today you will learn about the sad case of Nur Damim. [music] In 2021, Nur Aiar Daen Damim, a 28-year-old woman born in Indonesia, was living in Malaysia looking for work. Coming from a very humble family, her only wish was to have the chance to work and improve her life. In the first half of 2021, even amidst the pandemic, Nura was excited because she had landed a job as a domestic worker in the home of a publicly known figure, 37-year-old Ettica City Suleng, who lived with her three children and her then-husband, 44-year-old Mohammad Ambri Yunus. Ettica was
a star in the Malaysian culinary scene . In 2012, she captivated the country as one of the finalists on the second season of MasterChef Malaysia. With a contagious smile and an evident passion for cooking, Eticá has become a favorite among the [music] audience. Her journey on the show was marked not only by her technical skill in complex recipes, but mainly by her charisma and the way she presented her culinary knowledge, winning the hearts of the public and making her a beloved and inspiring public figure. [music]
Well, at least until her name was associated with a completely cruel crime. In addition to being an excellent chef, Etica also had a degree in agronomic engineering and at the time of the crime was working in a successful position in the field. She was described as a delicate, charismatic, and very professional person.
Her husband, Mohammed, was a well-known contractor who performed various services for the city hall and served very high-end clients. The couple’s three children required special attention from their parents, especially the two oldest, who are twins and are on the autism spectrum. With this, the couple began to speak publicly about the cause, almost like activists, and, in this way, they also ended up gaining some relevance in the community of parents of autistic and neurodivergent people in general. Ettica and Mohammad were a couple
with excellent financial conditions, beautiful photos on social media, and an apparently enviable life. According to some witnesses, Nur arrived knowing she would be working, helping with household chores and childcare. However, her joy was short-lived, because days after arriving, her passport and documents were confiscated by her employers.
Nur did not receive the agreed-upon amount. The pay was much lower because, according to the employers, there were deductions for her living in their house. Furthermore, contact with family was minimal. She couldn’t detach herself from all of that because, coming from a humble, needy family and in the midst of a pandemic, she knew she would n’t be able to find another job so quickly.
On December 13, 2021, the couple contacted the authorities to report something terrifying, to say the least . They told the police that they were traveling, left Nur in the apartment, but when they returned they found her lifeless and completely unrecognizable. At that point, the police already suspected the couple’s story, as they seemed to be trying hard to feign sadness about what had happened, especially since it involved someone who was inside their own home.
Furthermore, they seemed to have rehearsed the details of the testimony, as everything was narrated identically by both, [music] in chronological order and with the same details, even though they were in separate rooms. So, right from the start , both of their cell phones were seized for forensic examination. The authorities went to the apartment to carry out the legal procedures and collect the body, but what they found there was truly terrifying and unimaginable.
The young woman was completely disfigured, with her hair shaved, missing six of her front teeth, covered in bruises, scars, deep wounds, and with a severe burn appearance. And to top it all off, the entire apartment reeked of disinfectant. According to the autopsy results, Nur suffered numerous physical abuses to have reached that state, as there were many old wounds in the process of healing, as well as recent injuries, such as still-open wounds.
The cause of death was a generalized infection that affected his internal organs, called necrotizing fasciitis. This is a rare but extremely serious and aggressive bacterial infection that rapidly destroys the body’s soft tissues . Because of the speed at which it spreads and destroys the skin, fat, and tissue covering the muscles, the fascia.
It is popularly known as the flesh-eating bacteria. This bacterium most likely entered through Nur’s own wounds and skin infections after she suffered several burns from boiling water. All the marks on the body were highlighted in the report as evidence of prolonged systematic abuse. In other words, it wasn’t an isolated crime, but rather something she had been enduring for a long time [music] through various torture sessions.
Although the couple went to the police station on the 13th to say they found her lifeless, the examinations indicated that she must have died on the 11th. [music] Initially, there was nothing unusual on the couple’s cell phones . However, when investigators decided to recover the deleted files, a series of unbelievable videos came to light.
The videos were so disturbing that several people in the criminal justice field, who are supposedly already accustomed to violence in their profession, couldn’t watch them to the end. Some felt unwell and left the room while watching. Others asked to stop the display, [music] saying that it wasn’t necessary to see all the content of the files.
There were several videos where the couple enjoyed hurting and torturing Nur. She was being slapped, punched, and having her hair pulled. They were throwing plates at the girl. There were videos showing that they forced her to take baths with scalding hot water, causing severe burns all over her body. She would catch her several times, and when she tried to protect herself, the couple would laugh in the background.
Some of the teeth had been pulled out with pliers. The girl went through unbelievable moments under the roof of that sadistic couple. The police believed the couple went to the police station because they thought they wouldn’t be able to get rid of the body [music] without arousing suspicion. Therefore, suggesting that a third person might have committed the crime seemed like the best way out.
They erased all the records they could from their cell phones, cleaned the house, [music] messed up the crime scene to confuse the police, but they didn’t count on technology putting in the hands of justice [music] all the evidence they thought they could hide, with the irrefutable evidence [music] that there was no accident, but rather a crime carried out with extreme cruelty, the media began to publicize the case.
It gained national attention, mainly due to the fame the couple had, and also served as inspiration for activist groups. These groups began demanding better working conditions for domestic workers and more effective regulation, given that this work is still highly undervalued, discriminated against, and very poorly paid. Often, migrant and immigrant women are sent by employment agencies to work in the homes of wealthy individuals , with the promise of good wages.
However, a large number of these agencies operate irregularly, many of them clandestinely, disregarding all necessary regulations and failing to offer subsequent support when workers find themselves in discriminatory and even inhumane conditions. Many employers deduct expenses such as housing, food, and document issuance costs from these women’s salaries.
They’ll do anything to get a maid. But upon arriving at the location, they turn them into slaves, subjecting them to inhumane working hours , just to try and pay off their debts. All of this is widely known as human trafficking. Ettica and Mohammed were arrested on December 14, one day after going to the police station to report what had happened.
In early 2022, Ética filed a request for release through her lawyers. She claimed to be the mother of a young child who needed breastfeeding, and of twin sons who required special attention. The court granted the request and set bail so that she could await trial in freedom. The bail was set at an amount that, converted, is equivalent to just over 6,000.
At that moment, the situation was as follows. A murdered victim who was tortured until the last second of her life, while her killers were at home, enjoying the finest dishes prepared by a former MasterChef, watching TV and movies, and simply awaiting trial in freedom. And they accomplished this feat, even with all the evidence recorded on their own cell phones.
Furthermore, the defense lawyers attached a report to the case, alleging that Etica suffered from psychological disorders. This was new information, as until that moment no one had mentioned any similar condition, not even prescriptions or medical consultations prior to the process.
When she was granted the right to respond to the trial while free, it generated a great deal of outrage among the population. [music] However, there was nothing that could be done, since it was a court decision and she remained free, despite the public outcry. As if that freedom wasn’t enough, in October of the same year, 2022, Mohammed also filed an appeal, claiming that the pre-trial detention time was exceeding what the law allowed, since he had been imprisoned for 10 months and the trial had not even been scheduled. So he also obtained the
right to await trial in freedom, without even having to pay bail. Fortunately, they weren’t free for very long. In December, a year after the crime, a homicide charge with far more details about the atrocities they committed was formally filed with the court, leading to the trial being scheduled for February of the following year.
And due to the official disclosure of all the atrocities, an arrest warrant was issued again for each of them. They returned to prison, and this time, without the right to bail. The trial was very long. The hearings took place sporadically and lasted for more than 2 years, only ending in June 2025. The prosecution based its case on certain points of the country’s Criminal Code as follows.
Session 34. Addresses the common intent between two or more people in the execution of a crime, including the possibility of premeditation. Session 300. Deals with serious bodily harm with the intent to take a life, which could characterize not only a crime of mistreatment, but also the recurrence of actions with the intent to kill.
Section 302 refers to first-degree murder, which carries the death penalty. During the two-year trial, the two divorced, although in some hearings, each tried to shift the blame to the other, claiming that she suffered domestic violence and was forced to do what her ex-husband did. And he claimed that he only filmed because she was crazy and that he needed to protect himself, since the crimes were committed only by her.
None of these claims were found to be true. In several videos, the audio of the two laughing and giggling in the background was clear, in response to Nur’s suffering. On June 20, 2025, the court delivered its verdict, and the couple was found guilty on all charges. [music] They were sentenced to 34 years in prison, and Mohamed also received an additional 12 lashes.
Ettica escaped this part of the punishment, since local laws prevent women from receiving such physical punishment. The population celebrated the conviction, but not everyone agreed with the sentence handed down. Many posts on social media claimed that the sentences were too lenient for the sheer cruelty of the crime.
Many still called for the case to be reviewed and for the death penalty to be applied. The court’s verdict provided a legal answer for the crime, but Nurdamim’s story leaves us with a profound moral unease. Why did a young woman who was simply seeking opportunities end up with such a cruel fate at the hands of people she trusted and believed would help her improve her life? This case exposes the shocking dehumanization that can occur behind closed doors, far from the eyes of society.
May Nur’s story not only be a record, but at least serve as a call to collective conscience, compelling us to look beyond appearances and understand that respect and protection are rights and [music] not privileges.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
