A Malaysian couple were sentenced to 24 years jail each for starving their 24-year-old Cambodian maid to death last year.
Initially the couple were charged with murder which carries death penalty in Malaysia, but Justice Zamani Abdul Rahim reduced the murder charge to culpable homicide.
Hardware store owner Soh Chew Tong (44) and his wife Chin Chui Ling (44) were found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder of a Cambodian national Mey Sichan in a shophouse in Taman Asas Murni, Jalan Bukit Minyak.
Sichan was working for the couple since September 2011 and was found dead on April 1 last year.
She died after prolonged starvation.
Rahim ordered that the 24-year jail term will start from the day of their arrest on April 1 last year.
The case has brought into focus a series of abuses of domestic workers from countries like Indonesia and Cambodia, which forced them to ban their maids from going to Malaysia for work.
Few years ago, a Malaysian family was arrested after an Indian national, Ganesh from Tamil Nadu was chained and starved them.
However he managed to escape but died in the hospital during treatment.
Maids in Malaysia usually from Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India, Philippines and Indonesia.
