A 46-year-old suspended Traffic Police officer, Kevin Chelvam, was convicted on 10 Apr 2025 of four charges linked to one of Singapore’s worst maid abuse cases that resulted in the death of Myanmar domestic helper Piang Ngaih Don in 2016.
District Judge Teoh Ai Lin found Chelvam guilty of abetting his then-wife Gaiyathiri Murugayan to starve Ms Piang, voluntarily causing hurt by grabbing her hair and lifting her body off the ground, giving false information to a police officer, and causing evidence to disappear by dismantling a CCTV recorder installed in his Bishan flat.
Chelvam, who appeared in court wearing a black hoodie, remained expressionless as the judge’s findings were translated to him.
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His bail was set at $20,000, and he is expected to be sentenced on 17 Jul 2025.
Severe Starvation and Physical Abuse Led to Death of Myanmar Maid
Ms Piang began working for Chelvam’s family on 28 May 2015 on a two-year contract. It was her first time working outside of Myanmar.
When she started, she weighed 39kg, but at the time of her death on 26 Jul 2016, she weighed a mere 24kg, having lost 38 per cent of her bodyweight.
Medical experts testifying at Chelvam’s trial said the domestic helper’s limbs looked like “skin wrapping bone.”
They added that she had a body mass index of only 11.3, similar to someone suffering from advanced cancer or from extensive tuberculosis. This is far below the healthy range of 18.5 to 22.9.
Court documents showed that Ms Piang died of brain injury with severe blunt trauma to her neck after 14 months of repeated abuse.
While working for the family, she was burned with a heated iron, choked, shaken violently, punched, kicked and stomped on.
The victim had irregular mealtimes, often having only two meals a day. Sometimes an entire meal comprised nothing more than slices of bread soaked in water, left for her by the kitchen sink.
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For 11 consecutive nights from 15 Jul 2016, Gaiyathiri tied one of Ms Piang’s hands with string to a window grille at night as she slept on the floor of the bedroom. This was supposedly to prevent her from leaving the room at night.
Ms Piang also had to shower and relieve herself with the toilet door open while Gaiyathiri or her mother, Prema S Naraynasamy, watched.
She wore multiple layers of face masks as she went about her work as Gaiyathiri found her “unhygienic” and did not want to look at her face.
CCTV Evidence and Cover-up Attempt
CCTV cameras were installed in various parts of the flat to monitor Ms Piang and the couple’s two children, who were aged one and four at the time.
Investigators retrieved 35 days’ worth of footage, recorded between 21 Jun and 26 Jul in 2016, which showed multiple acts of abuse.
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The footage captured that Chelvam was at home on numerous occasions while the victim was being berated and beaten, often right in front of him.
Video clips played in court showed five incidents of Chelvam standing by in the kitchen while Ms Piang was being assaulted by Gaiyathiri inside the toilet or in the kitchen.
On 24 Jun 2016, CCTV footage showed Chelvam grabbing the domestic helper by her hair and lifting her body off the ground.
Judge Teoh noted that Chelvam had claimed he grabbed her hair to wake her up, but found this implausible, pointing out that the footage also showed him kicking Ms Piang.
The judge added that as Ms Piang was eating slowly and deemed to be in the way of a planned family outing, Chelvam’s actions showed he was frustrated with her.
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Ms Piang was subjected to continued abuse just hours before she was found dead, with Gaiyathiri and Prema repeatedly assaulting her from around 11:40PM on 25 Jul 2016, to around 5AM the next day. This left her motionless and unresponsive on the bedroom floor.
Gaiyathiri contacted a doctor between 9:30AM and 9:45AM when Ms Piang remained motionless. The doctor found her dead and told the women to alert the police. Gaiyathiri instead contacted Chelvam, who returned home at around 11:20AM.
Paramedics pronounced Ms Piang dead at 11:30AM, and the police arrived a minute later.
After Ms Piang’s death, Chelvam attempted to thwart investigations by dismantling the CCTV recorder and lying about its whereabouts.
When asked by a police officer if the CCTV cameras in the flat were working, Chelvam falsely claimed he had removed the recorder six months earlier at a tenant’s request.
However, the police learned from the couple’s four-year-old daughter that she had seen CCTV recordings on Gaiyathiri’s phone the day before.
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Chelvam’s ex-wife, Gaiyathiri, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2021, while her mother, Prema, received 17 years’ jail in 2023 for their roles in the case. Both women had pleaded guilty to their charges.
Chelvam and Gaiyathiri divorced in 2020, and he has been suspended from the Singapore Police Force since August 2016.
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