Singapore woman who tortured domestic worker to death sentenced to 30 years in prison

Singapore woman sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter against her domestic worker, whom she allegedly tortured to death for 14 months.

In February, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, 41, pleaded guilty to 28 counts against him, including manslaughter, deprivation of food, willful deprivation of a burning substance and improper restraint.

His victim was Piang Ngaih Don, a 24-year-old Burmese, who worked as a maid in the Murugayan house for 14 months, until her death on July 26, after her employer and mother jointly attacked her, causing her to fracture her throat and cause permanent brain damage.

It was the last and ultimately fatal abuse, but during the entire time he lasted working for women, Piang Ngaih Don suffered from hair pulling, violent shaking, torn locks of hair, burns to arms from hot irons, kicks, beatings and repeated insults.

In view of the brutality of the abuses, the prosecutor’s office that handled the case asked the court for a life sentence because it considered It is necessary to send the message that anyone who mistreated a domestic worker like the accused did should face the most severe punishment..

For its part, the defense of Gaiyathiri Murugayan would present during the trial several arguments which, in its opinion, were mitigating to obtain a reduced prison sentence not exceeding eight or nine years.

Part of these arguments presented by attorney Joseph Chen was that the accused had already served five years in preventive prison, since she had been arrested for the murder of her employee.

He noted that a reduced sentence would allow Gaiyathiri’s children to still have the opportunity to grow up with their mother after their release, further reiterating the request for a gag order in the case to prevent the children from being stigmatized for their mother’s crimes. .

He also highlighted a Major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder which are present in the personality of the accused and which, according to the defense, substantially contributed to the crimes. He also stressed that these were the first crimes alleged against his client and that this lack of history should be taken into account in the judge’s decision.

But not only that, the defense of women built a case which largely justified the assaults, pointing out thate for Gaiyathiri, her employee was responsible for several illnesses from which her children had suffered, because she did not respect the rules of hygiene and touched the plates with dirty hands.

This argument was vigorously denied by the prosecutor Mohamed Faizal who declared that “Even for the most conspiratorial mind” To say that the victim’s hygienic practices were related to the health of the accused’s children was foolish, and that in no way justified any kind of abuse, mistreatment, let alone death.

The prosecutor also argued that the seriousness of the crimes made the lack of a history irrelevant and that even the totality of the charges against Gaiyathiri were not sufficient to assess the abuse suffered by Piang Ngaih Don, since they focused on only over the last two months of work. from the victim to the aggressor’s home.

Furthermore, he recalled with particular emphasis the moment when Gaiyathiri qHe burned his maid’s arm with a hot iron, after supposedly burning clothes.

“The victim’s continued blame shows the lack of repentance and interest in shirking Gaiyathiri’s responsibility,” said the prosecutor.

The prosecution also questioned the motive for the request for the gag order, noting that the issue of the protection of Gaiyathiri’s children had not been raised when proceedings began in February.

During sentencing, Judge See Kee Oon said the prosecution painted a “Shocking story” of how the victim was abused, tortured, humiliated, starved and ultimately died at the hands of the accused.

“The prosecution’s presentations are framed in strongly emotional terms, but words cannot adequately describe the abject cruelty of the accused’s terrible conduct.”said the judge.

“It is without a doubt one of the worst cases of wrongful death”added.

Judge See added that there was no legal justification for a gag order, as it was “well established” under the law that personal or family hardships were not mitigating factors, nor was the public or media interest.

While Gaiyathiri’s psychiatric condition remained an important sentencing consideration, the judge concluded that the defendant continued to be aware of her actions despite her conditions.

Even like that, life imprisonment was neither fair nor appropriate, given that Gaiyathiri was undergoing psychiatric treatment and was not considered to pose a risk of committing an offense or a danger to the public, Judge See added.

Gaiyathiri’s husband, suspended police officer Kevin Chelvam, faces five case-related charges of assaulting Ms. Piang Ngaih Don and lying to police that his apartment’s CCTV cameras had been removed.

Gaiyathiri’s mother, Prema Naraynasamy, also has outstanding charges.

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