According to a report, the accused woman pled guilty to 28 offences, including culpable homicide, causing serious bodily harm by hunger, causing bodily damage by a heated substance, and wrongful restraint.
According to a media report today, a 41-year-old Indian-origin Singaporean lady was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing her domestic assistant after beating her repeatedly over the period of 14 months of employment.
This is the longest sentence ever given in a domestic help abuse case in Singapore.
According to Channel News Asia, Gaiyathiri Murugayan pled guilty to 28 crimes in February, including culpable homicide, voluntarily causing serious harm by starving, voluntarily causing grievous harm by a heated substance, and wrongful restraint.
Piang Ngaih Don, a 24-year-old Myanmar national, died on July 26, 2016, after being attacked by Gaiyathiri and her mother, resulting in a fractured bone in her throat and irreparable brain damage.
Piang, who arrived in Singapore in May 2015 to work for Gaiyathiri, was kicked, punched, and assaulted with weapons such as a broom and a metal ladle over the course of 14 months.
According to the complaint, Gaiyathiri had also lifted Piang by her hair, aggressively shook her, and took out a clump of her hair, even burning her arm with an iron on one occasion.
Justice See Kee Oon, who delivered the verdict on Tuesday, said the prosecution had presented a “shocking storey” of the victim being tormented, tortured, humiliated, starved, and eventually died at the hands of the accused.
“The prosecution’s submissions are framed in forcefully emotive terms, but words cannot adequately describe the abject cruelty of the accused’s appalling conduct,” he said.
“This is undoubtedly among the worst cases of culpable homicide,” Justice See said.
Gaiyathiri’s husband, suspended police officer Kevin Chelvam, is facing five charges in connection with the case, including beating Piang and lying to the police about the removal of CCTV cameras from his flat. According to the Channel, Gaiyathiri’s mother, Prema Naraynasamy, is also facing allegations.
