‘I really want to kill you!’: Hong Kong woman arrested after video shows employer hitting Indonesian domestic helper
Police arrest 79-year-old after video showed Cantonese row between elderly woman and domestic helper
An online video of an Indonesian domestic helper being scolded, assaulted and having her life threatened by her female employer sparked an investigation by Hong Kong police on Thursday.
In a clip posted on the Facebook page of Time News International, a Cantonese-speaking Chinese woman is seen grabbing the helper by her neck to shake her, and covering the employee’s mouth during an argument. The clip has received more than 290,000 views.
Police arrested the 79-year-old woman in Wong Tai Sin on Thursday for common assault and criminal intimidation.
The 12-minute video shows the elderly employer in a dispute with the helper, 35, over the quality of her work, in the Indonesian’s bedroom. The helper argues back in Cantonese, saying she is being berated over trivial matters and accusing her employer of being mad.
Get out if you don’t like it: Hong Kong’s message for domestic helpers
She lies on her bed and does not want to talk further, but that enrages the employer, who grabs and shakes her briefly while beating her, saying: “I really want to kill you. I’ll die with you.” The helper answers back: “I won’t.”
The employer then says: “You intend to irritate me.” She continues to rain blows on the helper, who gets up but is pushed back on the bed and slapped. She tells her employer: “I also don’t like you.”
The employer asks her helper to resign and leave but the other woman counters: “It’s not my fault.”