Singapore woman jailed for torturing, killing maid

A court sentenced Gaiyathiri Murugayan to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for the abuse and killing of her maid.

The abuse of her domestic worker, 24-year-old Myanmar national Piang Ngaih Don, was captured on security cameras installed in the family's home.

Murugayan, 41, pleaded guilty in February to 28 charges including culpable homicide. Another 87 charges were taken into account in sentencing.

Abuse ranged from stamping on the domestic worker, strangling, choking, battering with brooms and burning her with an iron, according to court documents.

Piang, who was employed with the family for 14 months, died in July 2016.

Singapore is home to about 250,000 domestic workers who mostly come from poorer Asian countries, with stories of mistreatment common.

Abused until her final moments

Piang was repeatedly abused for hours by Murugayan in the last 12 days before her death. She was also tied to a window grille at night and forced to sleep on a floor.

She was employed by Murugayan and her husband, a police officer, in 2015 to help take care of their young children. 

But Murugayan physically assaulted the victim almost daily, often several times a day, with Murugayan's 61-year-old mother sometimes joining in, according to court documents.

She was only allowed to sleep for five hours a night, and was forced to shower and relieve herself with the door open. She was given very little food, and lost about 38% of her body weight during her employment. At the time of her death, she weighed only 24 kilograms (about 50 pounds).

Stress turned mother into abuser: lawyer

Murugayan's lawyer, Joseph Chen, had asked for a sentence of eight to nine years, arguing that a "combination of stresses" had turned the struggling mother into an abuser.

Chen argued that a harsh sentence would deter mothers in a similar situation from asking for help — an argument that the prosecution called "disingenuous."

The defense also argued that Murugayan was a first-time offender who was stressed over her children's illnesses, which she blamed on Piang Ngai Don. 

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Murugayan after Singapore's attorney general recommended the accused be charged with murder.

'The worst types of culpable homicide'

After hearing an additional plea of mitigation submitted by Murugayan in a bid to avoid the life sentence, Justice See Kee Oon sentenced her to 30 years in prison starting from the date of her arrest in 2016.

The judge spoke of the "abject cruelty of the accused's appalling conduct" in his sentencing, and described the case as "among the worst types of culpable homicide."

However, taking into account the defendant's obsessive-compulsive disorder and the depression she developed around the time she gave birth, the judge said he did not think that life imprisonment was "fair and appropriate."

Murugayan's mother and policeman husband also face related charges.

on/msh (AFP, dpa)