ミャンマー人メイド虐待死、雇用主の女に禁錮３０年　シンガポール

【シンガポールＡＦＰ＝時事】シンガポールで２２日、ミャンマー出身のメイドに十分な食事を与えず暴行を繰り返し死なせたとして、有罪判決を受けていた雇用主の女に、禁錮３０年が言い渡された。判事は本件を「最悪の部類の故殺（計画性のない殺人）」と形容した。（写真は資料写真）
　死亡したのは、ピアン・ヌガイ・ドンさん（当時２４）。２０１６年７月、雇用主のガイヤティリ・ムルガヤン被告（４１）から数時間にわたって繰り返し暴行を受けた後、死亡した。
　裁判所の文書によると、被害者は踏みつけられたり、首を絞められたり、ほうきでたたかれたり、熱したアイロンを押し付けられたりしていたという。
　事件の約１年前から被告の家族に雇われていた被害者は、睡眠を一晩５時間に制限され、シャワーや排せつ時にはドアを開けたままにするよう強要されていた。食事もほとんど与えられておらず、１年間で体重が約３８％減り、死亡時には２４キロしかなかった。
　被告は今年２月、故殺など２８の罪状を認めていた。量刑判断ではさらに８７の罪状が考慮され、シー・キー・ウーン判事は、禁錮３０年の判決を言い渡した。逮捕された２０１６年からの勾留期間も刑期に算入される。
　判事は「被告の恐ろしい行為の卑劣な残酷さ」に言及し、量刑には今回の犯罪に対する「社会の怒りと嫌悪感」が反映されなければならないとした一方で、被告の強迫性障害と出産前後に発症したうつなどを考慮すると、終身刑は「公正かつ適切」ではないと考えると説明した。
　検察も被告の精神状態を考慮し、死刑が適用される可能性がある殺人罪よりは刑が軽減される故殺罪で起訴していた。
　シンガポールには約２５万人の家庭内労働者がいるが、その大半が比較的貧しいアジア諸国の出身者で、不当な扱いの事例が後を絶たない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/23-16:05）

A Singaporean woman who starved, assaulted and ultimately killed her domestic worker was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday, with the judge describing the case as among the worst types of culpable homicide.
The affluent city-state is home to about 250,000 domestic workers who mostly come from poorer Asian countries, and stories of mistreatment are common.
But the abuse inflicted on Myanmar national Piang Ngaih Don, 24, was particularly awful and captured on CCTV installed in the family's home. The domestic worker was stamped on, strangled, choked, battered with brooms and burnt with an iron, according to court documents.
The domestic worker died in July 2016, after her employer, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, repeatedly assaulted her over several hours.
Gaiyathiri, 41, pleaded guilty in February to 28 charges including culpable homicide. Another 87 charges were taken into account in sentencing.
She appeared in court on Tuesday wearing glasses and a black mask, and sat silently with her eyes closed and head bowed as the judge read his decision.
After hearing an additional plea of mitigation submitted by Gaiyathiri in a bid to avoid the life sentence sought by the prosecution, Justice See Kee Oon sentenced her to 30 years in prison starting from the date of her arrest in 2016.
See cited the abject cruelty of the accused's appalling conduct in his sentencing, which he added must signal societal outrage and abhorrence at the crime.
But taking into account the defendant's obsessive compulsive disorder and the depression she developed around the time she gave birth, See said he did not think that life imprisonment was fair and appropriate.
The prosecution had sought a reduced charge of culpable homicide rather than murder -- punishable with the death penalty in Singapore -- after taking into account her mental health.
The maid was employed by Gaiyathiri and her husband, a police officer, in 2015 to help take care of their four-year-old daughter and one-year-old son.
But Gaiyathiri physically assaulted the victim almost daily, often several times a day, with her 61-year-old mother sometimes joining in, according to court documents.
The domestic worker, who had been employed by the family for over a year at the time of her death, was only allowed to sleep for five hours a night, and was forced to shower and relieve herself with the door open.
Provided very little food, she lost about 38 percent of her body weight during her employment, and only weighed 24 kilogrammes (53 pounds) at the time of her death.
Gaiyathiri's lawyer Joseph Chen had asked for a sentence of eight to nine years, arguing that a combination of stresses had turned the struggling mother into an abuser.
He argued that a harsh sentence would deter mothers in a similar situation from asking for help -- an argument that the prosecution called disingenuous.