Notes » August 2001

Domestic Abuse

Hong Kong domestic helpers are coming forward with tales of abuse at the hands of their employers.

Filipina and Indonesian amahs have long complained they've been mistreated. One case saw the jailing of a housewife for a three-year term. Her actions were described by a district court judge as evil and cold-blooded; she stomped her maid so hard she ruptured the woman's liver.

The judge also said:

What Ms Gunung received was inhuman and degrading. She was treated like a sandbag made of human flesh.

The woman was also convicted for obstruction of justice; she'd threatened to have the maid's family in Indonesia killed if she went to the police.

After being stomped by her employer, the maid went to the market but collapsed at a train station. She was in such bad shape a police officer thought she had been hit by a train. The hospital discovered numerous bruises, a broken rib and the ruptured liver.

During sentencing, the judge described what happened as outrageous and said the jail term might give the woman time to learn how to respect fellow human beings.

Maybe she'll take a beating from her fellow inmates.

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