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10 years’ jail for maid who caused lover’s death
Tharmalingam Punwaneswary. Photo: Singapore Police Force
BY KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN
-3 HOURS 55 MIN AGO
SINGAPORE — A former domestic helper was jailed today for 10 years by the High Court for causing the death of her lover.
34-year-old Tharmalingam Puwaneswary, a Sri Lankan national, struck her lover, 32-year-old project supervisor Murugaiyan Selvam, on the head with an improvised dumb-bell weighing more than 5kg.
According to court documents, Mr Murugaiyan, a Singapore permanent resident from India, would frequently pick Tharmalingam up from her employers’ home in the Serangoon Garden area after 10pm. They would have sex either at a hotel or in his bedroom, which was located at his company’s premises.
It was also heard that Tharmalingam would also lend Mr Murugaiyan money as well as buy him clothes and jewellery.
On the night of the incident in December 2009, an argument broke out between the couple in Mr Murugaiyan’s room — when he asked her to hand over her employers’ cheque book so he could forge a cheque and encash it at the bank. Tharmalingam then accused him of exploiting her for money and sex.
Mr Murugaiyan slapped her, and later fell asleep after the argument. Tharmalingam then noticed an improvised dumb-bell outside his room, and used it to hit Mr Murugaiyan on the head twice. She also used a sharp object to stab his groin area before leaving the room.
In mitigation, defence lawyers said Tharmalingam, who is married with two children back home, had suffered physical abuse by her husband, and continued to have a difficult relationship with him even while working in Singapore.
Noting that the act was not premeditated, they added that Mr Murugaiyan had used her for money — and estimated that Tharmalingam had given him some S$6,000 of her own money.
Tharmalingam also had four other charges involving theft and abetting forgery for the purpose of cheating, which were taken into consideration. CHANNEL NEWSASIA
