Fatal abuse of Myanmar maid in Bishan: Traffic Police officer sentenced to 10 years’ jail

Suspended police officer Kevin Chelvam was sentenced to 10 years’ jail on July 17 over his involvement in one of Singapore’s worst fatal maid abuse cases.

After a trial in April, District Judge Teoh Ai Lin convicted the 46-year-old Traffic Police officer of one count of abetting his then wife Gaiyathiri Murugayan to voluntarily cause grievous hurt by starving Ms Piang Ngaih Don, 24.

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

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

On July 17, Chelvam was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal for his fifth and final charge – one count of using criminal force on Ms Piang Ngaih Don. This means he cannot be charged again over the same offence.

Before sentencing him, Judge Teoh stressed that the CCTV footage was a most crucial piece of evidence and Chelvam, as a police officer, was aware of its value.

The judge added that if the CCTV recorder had not been recovered, Ms Piang Ngaih Don could have “taken to her grave” what happened to her during the last days of her life.

Judge Teoh also noted that as the maid’s legal employer, Chelvam was obligated to ensure that the victim received sufficient food and rest.

She said that he should have stopped the acts of abuse perpetrated by Gaiyathiri and her mother. However, he also assaulted Ms Piang Ngaih Don while the two women were abusing her.

The judge added: “(His) actions in joining the assault were dehumanising.”

Chelvam was the last of three people to be convicted for abusing the Myanmar maid, who weighed a mere 24kg when she died in 2016. She weighed 39kg when she started working for Chelvam’s family on May 28, 2015.

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

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

Two years later, her mother, Prema S. Naraynasamy, then 64, was sentenced to 17 years’ jail over her role in the case. Both women had pleaded guilty to their charges.

Ms Piang Ngaih Don had not been given sufficient food for at least 35 days.

When she died, she had a body mass index of only 11.3, far from the healthy range of between 18.5 and 22.9.

In earlier proceedings, the judge said Chelvam chose not to intervene despite knowing Gaiyathiri was starving the maid, who stole and ate salt and seasoning to quell her hunger.

Doctors who had testified at Chelvam’s trial said the maid’s limbs looked like they were just skin wrapping bone.

 They told the court she had a body mass index similar to someone suffering from advanced cancer or from extensive tuberculosis.

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 working outside of Myanmar for the first time.

Deputy public prosecutors Sean Teh, Stephanie Koh, and Cheronne Lim said there were CCTV cameras in the flat to monitor Ms Piang Ngaih Don and the couple’s two children, 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 her being burned with a heated iron, choked, shaken violently, punched, kicked and stomped on.

For 11 consecutive nights from July 15, 2016, Gaiyathiri tied one of the maid’s hands with string to a window grille at night as the younger woman slept on the bedroom floor.

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

It was Gaiyathiri who starved Ms Piang Ngaih Don, with Chelvam failing to ensure she was adequately fed.

Prosecutors had said Chelvam feigned ignorance and blamed his former wife.

The DPPs added: “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.”

On the day she died, Gaiyathiri and Prema assaulted her from 11.40pm on July 25, 2016, to around 5am the next day.

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

The doctor found the maid dead and told the women to alert the police. Gaiyathiri contacted her husband, who returned home at around 11.20am.

Paramedics pronounced the maid dead at 11.30am.

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 recorder to her.

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

Prema slipped the recorder into the woman’s handbag without her knowledge, and told the latter in Tamil: “I have kept something in your bag; do something with it.”

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

After 3.30pm, a police officer noticed there were CCTV cameras in the home.

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

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

Chelvam admitted he had handed the recorder to Prema, and the police recovered it that evening.

On July 17, defence lawyer Pratap Kishan asked the court to be more compassionate towards his client, adding: “He’s lost nine years of his life. His life has come to a standstill.”

Chelvam’s bail has been set at $25,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on July 31.

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

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