Myanmar domestic worker Ms Piang Ngaih Don, who tragically died in July 2016.
Chelvam was convicted of abetting his then-wife, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, in voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Ms Piang by starving her, a crime that unfolded while he was still a serving officer with the Traffic Police. He was also found guilty of physically assaulting the victim grabbing her by the hair and lifting her off the ground and of tampering with critical evidence by dismantling a CCTV recorder in his Bishan flat. Additionally, he was convicted of lying to the police during the investigation.
During sentencing, District Judge Teoh Ai Lin described the CCTV footage as crucial in uncovering the truth behind the abuse. She emphasized that Chelvam, being a law enforcement officer, was fully aware of the value of such evidence. Had the CCTV recorder not been retrieved, she noted, the extent of Ms Piang’s suffering might have remained buried forever.
The judge highlighted Chelvam's role as the legal employer of the maid, stressing that he had a responsibility to ensure her welfare, including providing enough food and rest. Instead, he not only failed to intervene in the ongoing abuse by Gaiyathiri and her mother, Prema S. Naraynasamy, but also actively took part in the assaults.
Judge Teoh described Chelvam’s involvement in the abuse as “dehumanising” and pointed out that his inaction facilitated the prolonged torture that led to the maid's death. Ms Piang weighed just 24kg when she died, a sharp drop from her original 39kg when she began working for Chelvam’s family in May 2015. Her body mass index (BMI) was 11.3, well below the healthy range.
Medical professionals testified that Ms Piang appeared emaciated, with limbs resembling "skin wrapped around bone," a condition comparable to late-stage cancer or tuberculosis patients. Over a 14-month period, she suffered repeated beatings, starvation, and physical restraint. Investigators later recovered 35 days’ worth of CCTV footage showing the maid being punched, kicked, stomped on, shaken violently, and burned with a heated iron.
From July 15 to July 25, 2016, she was tied by one hand to a window grille each night as she lay on the floor. On the night of July 25, Gaiyathiri and Prema repeatedly assaulted her from 11.40pm until around 5am. Ms Piang never recovered. A doctor arrived around 9.30am but found her unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at 11.30am.
In a bid to obstruct the investigation, Prema instructed Chelvam to dismantle the CCTV recorder and hand it over to her. She later concealed it in her daughter-in-law’s handbag without her knowledge. When police questioned Chelvam, he falsely claimed that the recorder had been removed six months earlier. However, his four-year-old daughter contradicted that claim, and the device was recovered later that day.
Chelvam was the final individual involved in the abuse to be convicted. His ex-wife, Gaiyathiri, was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment in 2021, the longest jail term handed down in Singapore for maid abuse. Prema was sentenced in 2023 to 17 years’ jail. Both women pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Ms Piang had only recently left Myanmar for work and had been subjected to torture and starvation from the beginning of her employment. The court heard that she had irregular meals, sometimes just bread soaked in water and was denied adequate nourishment for at least 35 days prior to her death.
Prosecutors argued that Chelvam's inaction directly supported Gaiyathiri's continued abuse. They noted that Chelvam even tried to shift the blame entirely onto his former wife.
On the day of sentencing, Chelvam’s lawyer pleaded for leniency, stating that his client’s life had come to a standstill for the past nine years. Bail was set at $25,000, and Chelvam is expected to begin serving his sentence on July 31, 2025.
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