(The Standard P.
2 19 Sep 2013) A couple dubbed (被封稱) by protesters as "Mr and
Mrs Evil" were jailed yesterday for what a judge described as
"cruel" and "inhumane" treatment (不人道的對待) of their Indonesian maid
over two years.
The District Court heard the pair beat the
maid with clothes hangers, shoes and a bicycle chain from 2010 to 2012.
They also tied her up at night, wounded her
with a paper cutter and burned her with a clothes iron.
Hospital care worker Catherine Au Yuk-shan,
41, was sentenced to 5 years on two charges of assault (襲擊) causing actual bodily
harm and four counts of wounding, three with intent (意圖).
Her husband, electrical appliance salesman
Tai Chi-wai, 42, got 3 years on one count each of assault causing actual bodily
harm and wounding.
But deputy judge So Wai-tak found them not
guilty of false imprisonment (非法禁錮) over an allegation (指控) that they left the maid without
food or water after tying her to a chair and forcing her to wear a diaper (尿片) while
they went on a five-day vacation (度假).
The judge ruled (裁決) that many of the 45 injury
marks found on the body of Kartika Puspitasari, 30, were unlikely to be
self-inflicted (自己造成的). The assaults did not happen occasionally, but were repetitive (重複).
In a courtroom (法庭) packed with rights activists,
Indonesian workers' groups, reporters and representatives of the Indonesian
consulate, So described Au as "cruel and vicious (兇狠的)."
She took the leading role and used an iron
and a cutter to hurt the maid.
So said employers should be patient and
tolerant, and not to use violence to solve problems or regard their maids as targets to vent (發洩) their anger.
For everyone working
in Hong Kong should be protected by law, regardless ( 無論什麼) of occupation(職業) or
nationality.
Rejected, however,
were some of the maid's allegations (指控) that the judge said were "unbelievable
and exaggerations (誇大)."
The latter included
the maid's allegation (申述) that her employers forced her to wear transparent (透明的) plastic
bags as clothes as Au was unlikely to allow the maid to appear nearly naked (裸體的) at
home.
Protesters outside
the court held a placard (標語牌) dubbing the couple "Mr and Mrs Evil" and
called on the community to "end the social exclusion (排斥) of foreign domestic
workers in Hong Kong."
Winnie Chong
There are many employers in Hong Kong to hire foreign domestic workers to look after their family members and do domestic chores. According to the Employment Ordinance, the employers must live in a unit with their foreign domestic helpers. So the former should treat their maids as their family members if they want to have better relationship with their domestic helpers. Believe that most employers can do.
回覆刪除Occasionally, there were some cases about the domestic workers who treated their bosses having a glass of mixed up drink with urine. Some of them even added a little bit of household bleach to a bottle of milk to feed the babies. At the same time, there was recent a terrible case of a couple who were jailed for assaulting and be cruel as well as inhumane treatment to their Indonesian maid more than two years. Those instances are negative to ruin the relationship of trust in each other.
I recall that the book I read is called “Lessons in Life” by Elsie Tu who was a teacher and former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. She employed a Filipino helper and be kind to him. She said “We employers in Hong Kong should respect our helpers and treat them like family members.” Furthermore, the deputy judge So Wai-tak also said bosses should be patient and tolerant but did not vent their anger on their maids.
I agree with their viewpoints about employers should be generous and unprejudiced toward their helpers. On the other hand, the domestic workers should perform their duties faithfully. If the relations between the boss and the domestic worker are not harmonious, they cannot live together in peace for long.
For example, meeting an Indonesian maid yesterday, I have never seen her before. She was unhappy and told me that her boss was unkind and harsh to her. The employer did not let her sleep for preparing late night snacks at midnight, but needed to get up early to do housework. Moreover, the boss often vented her anger on her. The domestic maid had just done the job for three months but unfortunately suffered from depression. She decided to resign. Nevertheless, the maid said she had met her ex-boss who was kind. She had been doing the job for more than ten years and enjoyed it very much. Yet the maid was unlucky to lose her job after her ex-boss dead. She was sad and missed him. Being depressed for the contrast of treatment between her ex-boss and the new one, she shared her experience with me about the employers she met. I am sad for her situation and hope that she will meet a good employer in the future.
Shirley Lo
Yet the maid was unlucky to lose her job after her ex-boss dead.
回覆刪除It should be:
Yet the maid was unlucky to lose her job after her ex-boss died.
Shirley Lo