The strange exorcism case of Madam Amutha Valli, part-time tutor, former national athlete, will resume six more weeks of hearings in April after a 12-day marathon trial that ended Friday and has gripped Singapore's imagination for over a week.

Valli, 51, is seeking compensation from two Redemptorist priests and six church members for an alleged exorcism ritual she claims was forced on her at the Novena church in 2004.

Confronted with medical records and doctors notes that suggested that Valli was unhappy with her family, spouse Suppiah Jeyabal, a taxi driver, insisted his wife may be under the influence of "mind-altering" drugs that were being tested on her to treat her trance, and that doctors could have misinterpreted what she was saying, Channel News Asia reported.

Defense lawyers said Valli had told doctors Jeyabal had asked her to pretend to have gone mad to get early retirement benefits. They said that was why Jeyabal had checked her into National University Hospital's psychiatric ward four times between 1986 and 1989.

Defense lawyers alleged that a Resham Singh, who Jeyabal calls a "surrogate son", is the lover of Valli who has even taken trips with him abroad. Jeyabal challenged lawyers to take their allegations outside court, where they would not be immune to defamation charges.