February 25, 2021
Gaiyathiri Murugayan (left) admitted to starving, torturing and ultimately killing Piang Ngaih Don.
The Straits Times file
SINGAPORE - The abuse and torture suffered by Myanmar domestic helper Piang Ngaih Don is appalling and should never have happened, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
She also urged the community to help look out for and report signs of abuse of foreign workers.
Ms Piang was 24 when she died on July 26, 2016. She weighed just 24kg then, having lost 38 per cent of her body weight since she started working here on May 28, 2015.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday night (Feb 24), the minister extended her condolences to Ms Piang s family and said the Government takes the protection of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) seriously.
Piang s story begins at the 12-minute 26-second mark:
What documentary showed
The boy became the responsibility of Piang s sister.
A Singaporean filmmaker, Lynn Lee, wrote about her experience going to Myanmar to meet the deceased woman s family and to tell their story, which was featured by
Al Jazeera.
Post about Piang results in outpouring of help
In the Facebook post on Feb. 25, Lee recounted the trip to the impoverished region of Dimpi in Chin State, Myanmar, where there wasn t enough food or running water and many of the villagers seemed to have a cough , just to locate Piang s family.
Lee highlighted the circumstances at home that pushed Piang to take up the offer to come to Singapore to work on short notice and without any experience outside her village.
Thursday, 25 Feb 2021 08:45 AM MYT
(Left) An old picture of Piang Ngaih Don. (Right) Prema S Naraynasamy and her daughter Gaiyathiri Murugayan, both in bodily restraints, being escorted separately to their Bishan flat by police investigators in August 2016. Pictures via Facebook and TODAY
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SINGAPORE, Feb 25 The family whose foreign domestic worker was abused to death had hired four others before, but the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) did not receive any complaints or “adverse feedback” from those previous workers.
In a statement yesterday giving more details on the deceased Myanmar worker Piang Ngaih Don, 24, who was starved and abused to death by her employer Gaiyathiri Murugayan over nine months, MOM said that it has safeguards in place to prevent the abuse of maids.
The Straits Times
Areas under study include safeguards against abusive bosses and reporting system for docs
The case of Ms Piang Ngaih Don has brought the issue of maid abuse back into sharp focus. PHOTO: HELPING HANDS FOR MIGRANT WORKERS
https://str.sg/JVSd
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Before her death in July 2016, Piang was repeatedly physically abused by her Singaporean employer, Gaiyathiri Murugayan.
Among other abuses, Gaiyathiri kicked and slapped her helper, poured cold water on her, gave her bread soaked in water to eat, forced her to sleep for just five hours every night, and forced her to perform chores while wearing multiple layers of face masks as her employer found the helper unhygienic .
At the time of her death, the 24-year-old mother of a three-year-old boy back home weighed just 24kg.
Sentencing has been adjourned to a later date as the judge considers the case.