An Indonesian maid abused by her employer returned home today after spending three years waiting for the trial of her former employer to be completed.

A beaming Nirmala Bonat, 23, said after arriving in East Nusa Tenggara's capital Kupang that she was happy to be back in Indonesia and looked forward to seeing her parents again after the ordeal.

"I don't want to go back to Malaysia. I will start a business at home," she said, adding that she had enough money to start over in Tuapakas village, located some 200 kilometres from Kupang.

Bonat's case made headlines in Malaysia, with photographs of the severe injuries inflicted upon her by her female Malaysian boss splashed on the front pages of newspapers when she was discovered in 2004.

After accidentally breaking a mug, Bonat said she was abused every day until her breasts and back were covered with burns from a hot iron, and her face was swollen by regular beatings.

Trial still ongoing

The woman, a resident of Kuala Lumpur, has been asked to enter her defence and the trial is ongoing.

Teguh Hendro Cahyono, who accompanied Bonat from the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, said Bonat was now "psychologically well and ready to go home".

Part of her home-coming money came from donations, he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Bonat during a visit to Kuala Lumpur last week that was dominated by the issue of the treatment of Indonesian workers there.

A string of abused worker cases have soured relations between the neighbours. Malaysia is home to some 1.2 million documented Indonesian workers, as well as an illegal workforce estimated to take the figure up to two million.