Murdered maid sets off international row
Even as she sought to leave the Philippines to find work abroad, Joanna Demafelis knew of the dangers that could befall her overseas.
She had heard stories of Philippine workers subjected to abuse or even death by their foreign employers. Nevertheless, Demafelis was eager to accept the offer; she could make 10 times as much per month in oil-rich Kuwait than if she remained in the Philippines, news site Rappler reported.
And so, in May 2014, Demafelis flew to the Middle East.
She would not return home alive.
In February, Kuwaiti authorities discovered Demafelis’ body in the freezer of an abandoned apartment belonging to a couple who had hired her. According to local media, there was evidence that the woman had been tortured and strangled. Demafelis would have been 29 years old.
Demafelis’ employers — Nader Essam Assaf and his wife, Mona Hassoun — reportedly fled Kuwait after the discovery of their maid’s body, triggering an Interpol manhunt. They were later arrested in Syria. Assaf, a Lebanese national, was taken to Beirut, while Hassoun was held in Damascus, Al Jazeera reported.
More than a month after his arrest, Assaf confessed to killing Demafelis and was charged with murder. On Sunday, a Kuwaiti court sentenced Assaf and Hassoun to death by hanging.
Demafelis’s murder set off outrage in the Philippines, which sends more than 2 million citizens to work overseas. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte banned Filipinos from working in Kuwait.
The ban and subsequent departure of thousands of Philippine workers threatened to leave Kuwait with a “deficit” in domestic workers, which officials there said Tuesday they would attempt to fill by recruiting more Ethiopian nationals, Agence France-Presse reported.