Police probe strip claims
POLICE have launched an investigation into allegations by a domestic helper that she was subjected to an 'unnecessary and humiliating' strip-search by officers before being released without charge.
The 34-year-old Filipino woman - who does not want to be identified - claims she was taken to Sai Kung police station on November 2 after her former employer accused her of stealing two handbags.
She says she told the police the handbags were gifts from her employer. The pair are now in the middle of a Labour Tribunal dispute.
The maid handed the bags to police and says she did not resist when officers asked her to go to the station. After being questioned, police officers left her alone in an interview room, she said.
'Later a policewoman came inside the room and closed the door. She asked me to take off my clothes. I asked why, and she replied, 'Because you were arrested'. I asked whether it was necessary.
'I started crying and I took off everything . . . That was the first time in my life I had stripped naked in front of someone, besides my husband,' the domestic helper told the Sunday Morning Post.
She did not believe the strip-search was necessary. 'The two handbags were already in their hands, why did they do that?'
The woman says she was then put in a cell and refused a phone call. After a second round of questioning, she was given a tray of food, but it was placed on top of the toilet bowl in her cell.
'I felt disgusted and could not eat it.' She was later told her ex-boss had also accused her of stealing a cardigan.
The woman was taken out of the cell at 3pm the same day. 'They told me, my former employer had withdrawn her accusation because there was no problem.'
She was then asked to write a statement about her version of the accusation before being released at 6pm.
'I am upset because of what happened. My former employer knew that these bags were mine because I took them whenever we went out.'
The employer claimed the maid was always away from home and worked part-time for one of the neighbours.
She fired the maid on the night of October 16 after 'she disappeared for the whole afternoon'.
Yesterday, the employer said she called police after discovering her handbags, the more expensive of which was worth nearly $3,000, were missing.
'When the police came, they found our maid in the home of our neighbour on the second floor.' The maid returned the handbags and lied to police that they were a gift, she said.
'I was very mad and had been sick for a couple of days. I withdrew the complaint from police because I did not want to get further involved in the matter. It already gave me enough headaches.' she said.
A police spokesman confirmed that a Filipino woman had been arrested on suspicion of theft that day. 'She had to go through a thorough body search before she went to the cell.'
He added the search was to ensure the detainee's safety and prevent harmful objects being taken into the cell. 'The search was conducted under proper procedures.'
However, the police later retracted the statement, saying they preferred to make no comment before the investigation into the incident was complete.
Sai Kung Divisional Commander Fung Wai-kin said: 'The investigation will be fair and transparent.
'I am appointing another officer not connected with the arrest because he was transferred to Sai Kung after November 2.'
Guidelines in the Police Manual and Police General Orders state that 'a female should be searched only by a female. But a male officer may search a woman's handbag or parcel'.
The Police Public Relations Branch refused to elaborate.