Myanmar maid tortured to death: Cop is last abuser to be convicted

Suspended police officer Kevin Chelvam has been convicted of four charges linked to one of Singapore’s worst maid abuse cases involving the death of a domestic helper.

On April 10, the 46-year-old Traffic Police officer was the last of three people to be convicted of abusing Myanmar domestic helper Piang Ngaih Don, who weighed a mere 24kg when she died in 2016.

She had not been given sufficient food for at least 35 days.

When she started working for Chelvam’s family on May 28, 2015, she weighed 39kg.

After a trial, District Judge Teoh Ai Lin convicted Chelvam of one count of abetting his then wife Gaiyathiri Murugayan to voluntarily cause grievous hurt by starving Ms Piang Ngaih Don.

Chelvam, who was her registered employer, was also convicted of one count of voluntarily causing hurt by grabbing her hair and lifting her body off the ground.

His bail was set at $20,000 on April 10 and he is expected to be sentenced on July 17.

More than 10 people, including his mother, were seated in the gallery when the judge gave her verdict. Some of them bowed their heads during the sombre proceedings that lasted around 90 minutes.

Judge Teoh noted that Chelvam had claimed that he grabbed the domestic helper’s hair to wake her up. But she found this to be implausible, saying that CCTV footage also showed him kicking Ms Piang Ngaih Don that day.

The judge added that as the domestic helper was eating slowly at the time and deemed to be in the way of a planned family outing, Chelvam’s actions showed that he was frustrated with Ms Piang Ngaih Don.

The judge also noted that, at the time of her death, the domestic helper had a body mass index of only 11.3, putting her in the severely undernourished range.

This is far from the healthy range of between 18.5 and 22.9.

Judge Teoh said: “(Chelvam’s) legal duty was to ensure that (Ms Piang Ngaih Don) received sufficient food.”

However, the judge stressed that Chelvam chose not to intervene despite knowing that his former wife was starving the domestic helper, who had to resort to stealing items like salt and seasoning to quell her hunger.

Judge Teoh also said that Chelvam was aware about Ms Piang Ngaih Don’s weight loss and knew how light she had become as he managed to lift her off the ground by simply grabbing her hair.

Chelvam and Gaiyathiri divorced in 2020. He has been suspended from the Singapore Police Force since August 2016.

In 2021, Gaiyathiri, then 41, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the longest jail term meted out here in a maid abuse case.

In 2023, her mother, Prema S. Naraynasamy, then 64, was sentenced to 17 years’ jail over her role in the case.

Both women pleaded guilty to their charges.

Court documents showed that Ms Piang Ngaih Don died of brain injury on July 26, 2016, with severe blunt trauma to her neck after 14 months of repeated abuse. She was 24 years old then and working outside of Myanmar for the first time.

Doctors testifying at Chelvam’s trial said the domestic helper’s limbs looked like they were just skin wrapping bone.

They added that she had a body mass index similar to someone suffering from advanced cancer or from extensive and widespread tuberculosis.

Chelvam was also convicted of one count of giving false information to a police officer handling the case, and one count of causing evidence relating to the case to disappear by dismantling a CCTV recorder installed in his Bishan flat.

When questioned, Chelvam lied to an investigating police officer that the CCTV cameras had been removed months earlier.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Stephanie Koh, Sean Teh and Cheronne Lim stated in their submissions that there were CCTV cameras installed in various parts of the flat.

The devices were used to monitor Ms Piang Ngaih Don and the couple’s two children, who were aged one and four at the time.

Investigators retrieved 35 days’ worth of footage, recorded between June 21 and July 26 in 2016, which showed multiple acts of abuse inflicted on the victim.

While working for the family, the victim was burned with a heated iron, choked, shaken violently, punched, kicked and stomped on.

For 11 consecutive nights from July 15 that year, Gaiyathiri tied one of the domestic helper’s hands with string to a window grille at night as the younger woman slept on the floor of the bedroom.

CCTV footage recorded on June 24 that year showed Chelvam grabbing the domestic helper by her hair and lifting her body off the ground.

The court heard it was Gaiyathiri who starved Ms Piang Ngaih Don, with Chelvam failing to ensure she was given adequate food.

During the trial, the prosecutors said Chelvam feigned ignorance and blamed his former wife.

The DPPs said: “By his inaction, (he) abetted Gaiyathiri’s continued starvation of the deceased.

“(The domestic helper) had irregular mealtimes, often had only two meals a day, and an entire meal sometimes comprised nothing more than sliced bread soaked in water, and callously left for her by the kitchen sink.”

Ms Piang Ngaih Don was subjected to continued abuse just hours before she was found dead, with Gaiyathiri and Prema repeatedly assaulting her from around 11.40pm on July 25, 2016, to around 5am the next day.

Their abuse left the victim motionless and unresponsive on the bedroom floor.

Gaiyathiri contacted a doctor between 9.30am and 9.45am when Ms Piang Ngaih Don remained motionless.

The doctor, who visited the home, found the domestic helper dead and told the women they should alert the police.

Gaiyathiri contacted her husband, who returned home at around 11.20am.

Paramedics pronounced Ms Piang Ngaih Don dead at 11.30am. Court documents stated the police arrived a minute later.

The DPPs said: “Inside the master bedroom, Prema told (Chelvam) to dismantle the CCTV recorder, including the hard disk drive, from the power source. He did so and handed the CCTV recorder to Prema.”

The police were still in the flat in the afternoon when Prema’s daughter-in-law arrived to take care of the children.

Prema then slipped the CCTV recorder into the woman’s handbag without her knowledge.

She told the younger woman in Tamil: “I have kept something in your bag; do something with it.”

The daughter-in-law left the flat with her handbag.

After 3.30pm, a police officer noticed there were CCTV cameras in the flat and asked Chelvam if they were working.

The DPPs said Chelvam lied to the officer, claiming he had removed the CCTV recorder six months ago at his tenant’s request.

But the police learnt from the couple’s four-year-old daughter she had seen CCTV recordings on Gaiyathiri’s phone the day before.

The DPPs said Chelvam admitted he had dismantled the recorder and handed it to Prema. The police recovered it later that evening.

Chelvam, who was arrested on Aug 1, 2016, is represented by lawyers Pratap Kishan and Jasmine Yan.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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