In what has been called by prosecutors one of the worst cases of domestic worker abuse in Singpore,  helper, Piang Ngaih Don, from Myanmar, was stamped on, strangled, choked, battered with brooms, and even burned with an iron. Al Jazeera reports that her Singaporean employer has admitted to having starved, assaulted and ultimately having killing Don.

Don’s employer, 40-year-old Gaiyathiri Murugayan, has reportedly pleaded guilty to 28 charges. The charges reportedly include culpable homicide. Her murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide after the fact that she was ill and suffering from depression were taken into consideration. Murugayan’s husband, a policeman, also faces several charges over the case. Murugayan’s sentencing is to take place at a later date, and she faces possible life imprisonment.

Don had been employed by the couple in 2015 to help take care of their four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son.  The 24-year-old Don had been assaulted almost daily, and even several times in one day, with her murderers’ mother sometimes taking part in the assault. She died in July 2016 after having been beaten by her employer for several hours. Don, in the more than one year she had worked for the family was barely fed and was only allowed 5 hours of sleep a night. She was also not allowed to close the door when showering or using the toilet. Al Jazeera reports that the domestic worker lost so much of weight during her time of employment with the family that she weighed just 24kg’s at the time of her death.

Prosecutors said that the law had to take effect with full force in this case where one human being could treat another in such an evil and utterly inhumane manner.

Umm Muhammed Umar