SINGAPORE — A woman serving a 30-year jail term for the 2016 fatal abuse of domestic worker Piang Ngaih Don on Tuesday (Aug 1) testified against her ex-husband who is on trial for his alleged role in the case.

After an afternoon of re-examination by the prosecution, Gaiyathiri Murugayan agreed that when her then-husband Kevin Chelvam picked up Piang by the hair as she sat in the kitchen, he would have caused her physical hurt.

Gaiyathiri, 43, made the acknowledgement after the prosecution played closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident on June 24 in 2016, which showed Chelvam grabbing a fistful of Piang's hair and lifting her off the ground.

Gaiyathiri, a prosecution witness, returned to court to testify on the eighth day of the trial of Chelvam, from whom she was divorced in 2020.

The suspended police sergeant is contesting four charges of causing hurt to their deceased Myanmarese worker, abetting his ex-wife in starving her, removing evidence in the form of a CCTV recorder and lying to the police.

During cross-examination, Chelvam's defence lawyer Pratap Kishan asked Gaiyathiri to recall the incident and to tell the court if she was present when her ex-husband pulled Piang's hair.

Though she remembered that she was in the kitchen when her mother was scolding and shouting at Piang before Chelvam's alleged abuse, Gaiyathiri said that she did not think she was there when the incident occurred.

She agreed with Mr Kishan when he suggested to her that Chelvam is not someone who would "commit something of this nature".

During the prosecution's reexamination of Gaiyathiri, she was shown the CCTV footage of the incident. It shows her walking in and out of the kitchen at around the time that the incident took place.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stephanie Koh then asked Gaiyathiri if she thought that Chelvam had caused hurt to Piang when he picked the worker up by the hair, and if the footage showed Chelvam physically assaulting Piang.

Without hesitation, Gaiyathiri answered "yes" to both questions.

WhatsApp messages between the former couple were also raised during the court proceedings showing that Chelvam had had other interactions with Piang.

These messages, dated March 2016, involved Gaiyathiri telling Chelvam not to "raise his hands" at Piang after she had seen them talking in the hall. 

She followed that up by asking Chelvam: "What that b**** did?"

Chelvam responded by telling his then-wife that Piang had failed to place the children's photograph properly in the hall, adding that he would not give her any food if the supposed mistake were repeated.

When DPP Koh asserted that Gaiyathiri had sent the message because she had seen Chelvam about to hit Piang, Gaiyathiri disagreed and said that "he doesn't do that at all".

She claimed instead that the message was just to warn him against hitting Piang.

In other evidence, Gaiyathiri acknowledged during the prosecution re-examination that Piang was physically weak in the days leading up to her death. This followed her testimony during the cross-examination by the defence where she stated that Piang had "no problem" moving furniture in the house.

Chelvam's trial is set to continue on Wednesday.