1 week ago
26
SINGAPORE: A police officer whose ex-wife and former mother-in-law fatally assaulted a young Myanmar maid was found guilty in the State Courts on Thursday (Apr 10) for his role in the abuse and cover-up of the offences.
Staff Sergeant Kevin Chelvam, who has been suspended from the Singapore Police Force had claimed trial to four charges related to the case involving 24-year-old victim Ms Piang Ngaih Don, who died on Jul 26, 2016, after months of physical abuse.
He had been accused of abetting his ex-wife in starving the maid, who was usually only given slices of bread soaked in water to eat at irregular intervals, hurting the maid by lifting her off the ground by her hair, tampering with evidence and lying to the police.
On Thursday, District Judge Teoh Ai Lin convicted him of one count of voluntarily causing hurt by grabbing her hair and lifting her body off the ground and one count of abetting his then wife Gaiyathiri Murugayan to voluntarily cause grievous hurt by starving Ms Piang Ngaih Don.
Chelvam was also convicted of one count of giving false information to a police officer handling the case and one count of causing evidence related to the case to disappear by dismantling a closed-circuit television recorder installed in his flat.
Delivering her findings, she said that Chelvam was aware of how little Ms Piang Ngaih Don weighed and how weakened she was as he was able to lift her up from the ground just by grabbing her hair and had personally witnessed his then mother-in-law dragging her like a "rag doll" shortly after that.
"Even if Don was still able to move around the house and carry out her chores, in the days prior to her death, a reasonable person in the accused's position ... would know that Don's life was endangered by prolonged and ongoing deprivation of sufficient food for no less than 35 days prior to her death," said the judge.
She added that his failure to intervene was a "conscious" omission.
Chelvam, who appeared in court in a black hoodie, remained expressionless as a court interpreter translated the judge's findings to him.
Chelvam's ex-wife and her mother, Prema S Naraynasamy, are currently serving 30 and 17 years in jail respectively for their roles in the case.
When she died, Ms Piang Ngaih Don weighed less than 24kg, having lost 38 per cent of her bodyweight during her months of employment in Chelvam's household.
Chelvam's case will be heard again on Jul 17, where the judge will hear the prosecution's submission on sentencing and the defence’s reply and mitigation.
THE PROSECUTION'S CASE
Chelvam lived with Gaiyathiri and their two children – then aged four and one – in a three-bedroom flat in Bishan. Two tenants lived in one of the bedrooms, said the prosecution.
Prema had her own home but would often stay over to help cook and take care of the children.
When she stayed over, Prema would share a room with Ms Piang Ngaih Don, who slept on the floor.
Ms Piang Ngaih Don began working for Chelvam's family on a two-year contract in late May 2015. It was her first time working outside of Myanmar.
Though Chelvam was her registered employer, his then wife was the one responsible for supervising her and for her welfare on a daily basis.
Ms Piang Ngaih Don agreed to Gaiyathiri's conditions of employment which were that she should not have a handphone or any off days, with the understanding that Gaiyathiri would pay her more and let her rest at home.
Chelvam signed the employment contract, agreeing to provide the maid with at least three adequate meals a day, among other terms.
At the beginning, when Gaiyathiri was upset with Ms Piang Ngaih Don, she would shout at her and scold her. This, however, escalated to physical abuse by Gaiyathiri from Oct 2015.
In around May 2016, Prema became aware of the physical abuse by Gaiyathiri and started physically abusing Ms Piang Ngaih Don too.
The maid was also deprived of adequate food and rest by Gaiyathiri and was only allowed to sleep for about five hours a night.
Prema was aware of this and had noticed that Ms Piang Ngaih Don was losing a lot of weight.
Ms Piang Ngaih Don also had to shower and relieve herself with the toilet door open while Gaiyathiri or Prema watched.
She wore multiple layers of face masks as she went about her work in the house as Gaiyathiri found her "unhygienic" and did not want to look at her face.
For 11 consecutive nights from Jul 15, 2016, Gaiyathiri used a string to tie one of Ms Piang Ngaih Don's hands to a window grille in her bedroom while she slept on the floor.
This was purportedly to prevent her from leaving the room at night.
REMOVAL OF CCTV RECORDER
A CCTV system was installed in the flat, with cameras placed in various parts of the unit, to monitor Ms Piang Ngaih Don and the children. Later, 35 days' worth of footage from Jun 21, 2016, to July 26, 2016, were seized during the course of investigations.
The footage captured the abuse and ill-treatment that Ms Piang Ngaih Don was subjected to in the days leading to her death.
It showed that Prema stayed over at the house on at least seven out of the 11 nights.
It also showed that, on numerous occasions, Chelvam was at home while the victim was being berated and beaten and that this often took place right in front of him.
Video clips of footage played in court showed five incidents of Chelvam standing by in the kitchen while Ms Piang Ngaih Don was being assaulted by Gaiyathiri inside the toilet or in the kitchen.
After Ms Piang Ngaih Don died, Chelvam attempted to thwart investigations by preventing the police from obtaining crucial footage by disconnecting the CCTV system's recorder and lying about its whereabouts.
Chelvam told the police that the recorder had been removed six months earlier at a tenant's request as they were "uncomfortable" with it.
While he was at the house with the police on the day the victim's death was discovered, Chelvam also pretended to search the house for the recorder, before claiming he was not able to find it.
.png?itok=erLSagvf)
