Abused maid’s employer gets 6 years in jail
The convicted employer of a foreign domestic helper who has become a cause celebre for workers’ rights groups was sent to prison for six years for viciously bullying her maid. She was also fined HK$15,000 for violating labor law.
A subdued Law Wantung looked on as Justice Amanda Woodcock delivered the sentence Friday at the District Court, shy of the court’s sevenyear maximum but more than the punishment meted out in a similar case involving the horrific abuse of a maid.
Law was found guilty on multiple counts – doing grievous bodily harm as well as threatening the family of her helpers in addition to denying pay, holidays and rest days.
Woodcock said Law “was simply put, a bully”. She found her conduct contemptible and noted that she lacked any remorse for her actions. Woodcock added, “The root of (Law’s) problem” was believing her helpers were beneath her.
Woodcock also lashed out at the hiring arrangements and debt obligation helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih said she was compelled to accept, calling the system exploitative. She also called for a joint investigation by the SAR and Indonesian governments.
Woodcock also hit out at the city’s livein rule for domestic helpers, noting similar cases of hiddenathome abuse could be prevented if helpers were not compelled to live with their employers.
Horrific images of Law’s bad ly beaten and emaciated Indonesian helper Erwiana captured headlines worldwide, sparking an international criminal investigation. The case served as a lightning rod for criticism of Hong Kong’s migrant workersrelated policies.
Woodcock said she was certain Erwiana suffered assaults over six months on a neardaily basis, calling the prosecution’s case and medical evidence documenting scars, swellings on the scalp and a subdermal hematoma damning evidence.
Law vowed to appeal the sentence. Erwiana previously called for Law to receive a life sentence, calling the sixyear penalty inadequate in reflecting the seriousness of her ordeal.
The judge presiding over the case of an abused domestic helperturned international cause celebre for migrant workers’ rights has thrown her weight behind calls to reform the city’s migrant workerrelated rules, calling agency fees exploitative and mandatory livein a reason why such cases of horrific and hidden abuses happen.
District Court Justice Amanda Woodcock said it was “time to address these practices and investigate it vigorously by both Hong Kong and Indonesian authorities”.
Woodcock’s remarks came as she sentenced former employer of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, Law Wantung, to six years in prison for inflicting grievous bodily harm, a raft of labor law violations and threatening to kill the Indone sian helper’s family if she sought help.
It is “regrettable such conduct of physical and mental abuse is not rare and sadly often dealt with in the criminal courts,” Woodcock noted in Law’s sentencing on Friday.
Law’s six years was more than five and a half years handed down to Catherine Au Yukshan, who was sentenced for systematically torturing her maid with hot iron, bicycle chains, a hanger and a box cutter over two years.
“Such conduct could be prevented, if domestic helpers were not forced to live in homes,” Woodcock said, alluding to the government policy requiring foreign domestic helpers to reside in their employer’s residence.
She said the rule was too rigid and served as the source of similar cases of longhidden abuse, and opining a relaxation of the rule may lead to a decline in such cases.
Woodcock’s comment adds momentum to longsoughtafter reforms to the rule which migrant worker advocates have long rallied for, citing poor living conditions, personal safety and privacy concerns.
Woodcock also took issue with the fees employment agencies levy on helpers, purportedly to pay for training, relocation and placement. “There must be an element of exploitation here,” she said, adding Erwiana said her employment and pay conditions were decided without taking her opinion into account, which was illegal.
“Domestic helpers can become trapped and unhappy but cannot leave or change employers because the debt has to be paid off,” Woodcock said, adding the heavy burden heaped on helpers early on often led the recruiting agencies to turn a blind eye to one whose safety was being compromised.
A Labour Department spokeswoman called the livein rule a cornerstone of government policy for importing helpers, noting living out could incur increases in medical costs and affordability while putting pressure on private housing and public transportation.
The department also said agencies were not allowed to charge job seekers fees other than a fixed 10 percent on the first month’s salary upon placement and that they would confront and sanction agencies violating the rule.
She added Hong Kong was one of the few places offering helpers equal statutory rights as locals.
The Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong’s attorney general, Reda Mantovani, told China Daily the Indonesian government is studying Woodcock’s remarks in view of holding discussions and “finding a better way”.