Fatal Myanmar maid abuse: More jail time for woman who asked police officer son-in-law to remove CCTV recorder
Prema S Naraynasamy had instigated her son-in-law to remove a CCTV recorder that she knew had captured the acts of abuse against the young maid.
Prema S Naraynasamy (left), being taken back to the scene of the alleged crime in 2017 and an old photo of Ms Piang Ngaih Don. (Photos: TODAY, Facebook/Helping Hands for Migrant Workers, Singapore)
SINGAPORE: A woman who is in jail for joining her daughter in abusing a maid to death has received an additional imprisonment term for asking her son-in-law to remove a closed-circuit television recorder that held evidence of the crimes.
Prema S Naraynasamy, 64, will have to serve another three years' jail on top of her current jail term of 14 years for abusing Myanmar maid Piang Ngaih Don.
Prema had pleaded guilty to one count of instigating her son-in-law, 44-year-old Kevin Chelvam, to cause evidence of the offences to disappear.
Piang Ngaih Don died of a brain injury with severe blunt trauma to her neck on Jul 26, 2016, after 14 months of repeated abuse at the hands of Prema and her daughter, 43-year-old Gaiyathiri Murugayan.
The maid was punched, stamped on and starved until she weighed only 24kg. She was also tied to a window grille at night in the days before her death and assaulted if she tried to rummage for food in the dustbin.
The offence involving the CCTV recorder occurred when Prema knew that the authorities were heading to the house.
When Chelvam arrived home, Prema talked to him in a bedroom and directed him to dismantle the CCTV recorder so it could be disposed of.
Chelvam, a police officer, was initially reluctant to do so, but allegedly complied on his mother-in-law's insistence.
Prema later slipped the recorder into her daughter-in-law's bag while the police were in the house, and told her in Tamil: "I have kept something in your bag, do something with it."
Despite the CCTV recorder passing from her daughter-in-law's hands to her son's friend, the police managed to recover it after questioning Prema's son.
The prosecution had sought at least three years' jail for Prema's additional offence, while defence lawyer Rai Satish asked for between 18 and 24 months' jail instead.
JUDGE'S DECISION
District Judge Jill Tan said the background to the offence was "a series of unspeakably cruel abuses" committed by Prema and her daughter.
"Your lawyer has submitted that you were chiefly acting out of your motherly instinct, to protect Gaiyathiri. I accept that this might have been one of your motivating factors," said the judge.
However, she said that she found it difficult to give much weight to Prema's desire to protect her daughter, given that Prema had witnessed Gaiyathiri's "heinous crimes over a substantial period".
"Importantly, I cannot ignore the fact that your actions were also self-serving, because disposing of the evidence would also have protected you from punishment," said Judge Tan.
She said it must be made clear that any efforts to get rid of evidence, particularly of serious crimes, will be met with substantial punishment.
On whether the sentence would be crushing, Judge Tan said she noted that Prema would be at least in her 70s by the time she was released.
"Nevertheless, given the nature of the abuse that you inflicted on Ms Piang and your attempt thereafter to cause the evidence of the abuse perpetrated by you and Gaiyathiri to disappear, my view is that a lengthy sentence is appropriate," said the judge.
Gaiyathiri was sentenced to 30 years' jail in 2021 for her role in the case. Her appeal against her sentence was dismissed.
Chelvam is set for trial next month for his involvement in the case.
He has been suspended from the police force since August 2016.
