Abuser Of Myanmar Helper Piang Ngaih Don Gets 30 Years’ Jail
Domestic workers come to Singapore in the hope of supporting families back home, but their rights here can be grossly undermined by employers due to unequal power dynamics.
A 41-year-old employer who starved and abused her domestic worker until she passed away was sentenced to 30 years’ jail on Tuesday (22 Jun).
She was initially charged for murder, but this was changed to culpable homicide.
The prosecution had argued for the maximum sentence of life imprisonment but the judge eventually meted out a reduced 30 years’ sentence.
Employer starved Myanmar helper until she passed away
Gaiyathiri Murugayan pleaded guilty in Feb 2021 to abusing Piang Ngaih Don between May 2015 and when she passed away on 26 Jul 2016.
S’porean Woman Admits To Starving & Abusing Her Helper For 9 Months, Faces Life In Jail
Her 28 charges include culpable homicide, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by starvation, voluntarily causing hurt by a heated substance and wrongful restraint, according to Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Ms Piang was starved and on several occasions, Gaiyathiri hit and chained her so she couldn’t get food.
However, in Apr a new lawyer represented Gaiyathiri and asked for leniency.
Woman Who Abused Myanmar Helper Pleads For Leniency Through New Lawyer
CNA reports her lawyer Joseph Chen asking that she be given just 8-9 years’ jail since she was in remand for 5 years at that point.
He noted that Gaiyathiri’s 2 kids will then be able to grow up with their mum when she gets out of jail.
He also asked that a gag order be upheld for the safety of her children.
Along with Gaiyathiri’s mental conditions – which she is getting treatment for – she also had struggles with her children’s illnesses, Mr Chen argued.
She’d developed major depressive disorder when she’d been pregnant with her 2nd child, The Straits Times (ST) reports.
Also of note was that she was a first-time offender and doesn’t abuse helpers anymore.
Prosecutors argue for life sentence
In response to the defence, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mohamed Faizal Mohamed Abdul Kadir said that the first-time offence doesn’t make up for how severe they were.
“A mental disorder is not a free pass”, he said.
There were initially 115 charges, largely on abuse committed in the 2 months before Piang passed away. This wasn’t an exhaustive list, Mr Mohamed Faizal said.
Also, the defence said Gaiyathiri had attacked Piang’s hygiene on account of her children, but many of her offences had nothing to do with hygiene.
For example, an incident where Gaiyathiri burnt Piang’s arm with an iron had nothing to do with cleanliness.
Mr Mohamed Faizal said that there should be a life sentence to send the message that domestic helper abusers will “face the harshest sentence”.
Judge gives 30 years’ jail sentence
On account of Gaiyathiri responding to psychiatric treatment and deemed to be of little risk of reoffending, Justice See Kee Oon sentenced her to 30 years’ jail instead of life imprisonment.
However, he still called the case “one of the worst… of culpable homicide” in Singapore.
There was a consideration for her mental condition, but they found that she remained cognisant of her actions.
Justice See also rejected the gag order request as personal circumstances aren’t mitigating factors.
Justice served for heinous crimes
Whatever the public’s thoughts on the case, the sentence appears appropriate given all evidence on show.
Unfortunately, an innocent life was lost at the hands of cruelty — whether the first time or not, one time is too many.
Let this incident serve as a reminder of the plight that some domestic helpers face in Singapore, and we hope that what happened to Piang Ngaih Don never happens to anyone else here.
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Featured image adapted from CNA via YouTube.
