Malaysian gets 20 years for killing maid

Malaysian gets 20 years for killing maid

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

A Malaysian businessman has been sentenced to 20 years' jail for beating his Indonesian maid to death after an argument about household chores, reports said Friday.

Gan Chun Loong, 40, was found guilty Thursday of the manslaughter of 28-year-old Sonirih Casnawi, who died from a ruptured pancreas in an attack that left her with 45 injuries, the Star daily said.

"This is the most brutal and inhumane case of physical abuse that I have seen," sessions court judge Akhtar Tahir was quoted as saying.

"The injuries on the body tells of the severe abuse and serious injuries inflicted on the maid before she died. Her internal organs were ruptured," he said.

"There was bruising on the abdomen suggesting heavy blows causing the pancreas to be pressed hard on the backbone before it was ripped apart."

Gan's wife told the court that she had heard him arguing with their maid about household chores shortly before she discovered the woman lying motionless on the bathroom floor.

The case is the latest in a series of "maid abuse" incidents in Malaysia, which is home to some 100,000 Indonesian domestic workers.

On Thursday a court sentenced Seow Eng Aik to 36 years' jail and nine strokes of the rattan cane for raping his 19-year-old Indonesian maid, while his wife Tan Seok Hoon was jailed for six years for helping him in the attack.

During the trial, the court heard Tan had held the maid's hands while her husband raped her, and also sexually violated her using chillies and a carrot.

In earlier cases that made their way to the courts, both male and female employers have been accused of forcing maids to eat excrement, drink from toilet bowls, or burning and beating them.

International watchdog Human Rights Watch warned earlier this year that foreign maids in Malaysia are prey to physical, psychological and sexual abuse because of flawed government policies.