A married Sri Lankan maid was on Monday jailed for 10 years for killing her lover, an Indian national, in 2009 following a fight in his room.

The High Court heard that the couple started their affair in 2007. Mr Murugaiyan has been working here since 1998 while Puwaneswary came to Singapore in 2004. Puwaneswary Tharmalingam, now 34, pleaded guilty to striking Mr Murugaiyan Selvam, 32, on the head with an improvised dumbbell in his room at his Kaki Bukit workplace.

On the night of Dec 3, 2009, Mr Murugaiyan asked his lover for her employers' cheque book as he needed money for his upcoming arranged marriage in India. Puwaneswary, whose husband and two children are in Sri Lanka, confronted him for exploiting her for sex and money.

A fight broke out between the couple. Puwaneswary then struck him on the head with a 5.6-kg dumbbell.