Maid's death sparks reforms but gaps persist, say NGOs

More must be done to end abuse of foreign domestic workers in Singapore, say groups

- Jean Iau

Myanmar national Piang Ngaih Don spent the last 12 nights of her life tied to a window grille in her employer's Housing Board flat in Bishan.

She slept on a bedroom floor with one arm secured with a cord.

She had begged her employer not to tie her, but Gaiyathiri Murugayan told the maid she "deserved" it as she had sneaked out at night to take food from the kitchen.

Gaiyathiri, at the time married to a policeman, had subjected the 24-year-old domestic helper months of beatings and deprived her of food. In the 14 months she worked for the family, the maid lost 15kg.

On July 26, 2016, after being assaulted by Gaiyathiri and her mother Prema S. Naraynasamy, she drew her last breath. Ms Piang Ngaih Don weighed just 24kg when she died.

The ordeal she suffered in the last 35 days of her life was captured on surveillance cameras that Gaiyathiri, 43, and her former husband Kevin Chelvam had installed in their Bishan flat to monitor the maid and their two children.

Chelvam, 44, who was suspended from service on Aug 8, 2016, faces multiple charges in connection with the abuse. Prema, 64, who often stayed with the couple in the flat, was also charged in 2016.

In 2021, Gaiyathiri was jailed for 30 years, the longest jail term meted out for a maid abuse case in Singapore, and her mother was handed a 14-year jail sentence.

On Monday, Prema's sentence was increased by three years after she was found to have instigated Chelvam to cause footage of the abuse to disappear.

"I would say (their actions are) not human... not a human mindset," said Helping Hands for Migrant Workers founder Tin Maung Win of the mother-daughter duo. He was speaking to The Straits Times in the third episode of the True Crimes Of Asia podcast series.