Singapore: Indian-Origin Woman Gets 30-Year Jail Term For Torturing House Help To Death

Indian-Origin Singaporean Woman Jailed: A 41-year-old woman of Indian origin was sentenced to 30 years in prison on June 22 for death by torturing her house help. According to reports, the woman had been subjecting the house help for the past 14 months, since she was hired.

Trigger Warning: This article contains details of abuse and physical torture

As far as jail sentences in domestic help abuses cases in Singapore go, this is the longest sentence given to anyone according to the PTI report. The woman named Gaiyathiri Murugayan had pleaded guilty to all the 28 charges against her in February. Some of the charges against her were of wrongful restraint, culpable homicide, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by starvation and causing hurt by a heated substance, according to a report by Channel News Asia.

The deceased woman has been identified as a 24-year-old woman named Piang Ngaih Don of Myanmar. She died on July 26, 2016, after she was hit by Murugayan and her mother. Ngaih Don reportedly had a bone in her throat fractured along with brain damage.

Media reports stated that Murugayan tortured Ngaih Don for 14 months since the day she came to Singapore in 2015 to work. Gaiyathiri reportedly pulled a chomp of her Ngaih Don's hair once after she pulled her by her hand. She also used an iron to burn her arm, hit her with a broom, ladle made of metal, punched and kicked her.

Justice See Kee Oon who gave the sentenced Gaiyathiri on Tuesday called the case a "shocking story" of abuse, torture and humiliation. He said, "The prosecution's submissions are framed in forcefully emotive terms, but words cannot adequately describe the abject cruelty of the accused's appalling conduct." The Judge also called it one of the worst cases of culpable homicide.

Apart from the convict, her husband Kevin Chelvam, who has been suspended from his police officer post, has been slapped with five charges in connection with the same case. He reportedly lied to the police officers that the CCTV cameras in his residence had been removed. Gaiyathiri's mother has also been charged in the case, Channel News Asia reported.