On 2 December 2001, a 19-year-old Indonesian maid, Muawanatul Chasanah, was found beaten to death in a house by the Bedok Reservoir, Singapore.
[7] Each time she displeased Ng, he would repeatedly punch her, beat her with both a cane and a hammer, dump boiling water on her, or burn her with the ends of cigarettes.
[8] Ng was also highly suspicious of Chasanah, claiming she wanted to "slip powders, herbs, and papers with Arabic writings" into the family's meals.
On 19 July 2002, Judicial Commissioner Choo Han Teck sentenced him to ten years in prison and ordered him to be caned six times for killing Chasanah.
On 19 February 2003, magistrate Alvin Koh sentenced her to nine months’ prison time for grabbing and squeezing the maid's breasts.
[2] While sentencing Tan, Koh remarked about the former offence: "this vicious attack which you inflicted on her breasts revealed your latent disregard for her dignity as a human being and as a woman.
[2] Following Chasanah's death, the Indonesian government froze new foreign domestic worker contracts for a month in order to review the system.
[14][15] A neighbour of Ng, a man named Mr Neo, commented on Chasanah's abuse and death, stating: "Even if I knew, I wouldn’t have called the police, it’s not my business.
[16] In addition, Singaporean authorities believe that the publicity surrounding her death has assisted in reducing the number of reported maid abuse cases from 157 in 1997 to 43 in 2002.
He said he was personally feeling repulsed at the extent of abuse suffered by the victim but he had to suppress his disgust to maintain a professional mind while managing his client's case.