A DOMESTIC helper who overstayed in Hongkong for four years and was jailed for a year had her sentence reduced on appeal in the High Court to allow for her immediate release.
Desiree Vakili, 36, had a tearful explanation which moved Mr Justice Bewley to say that it was an extraordinary story which she should have told the magistrate when he sentenced her in Western Court in December last year.
Vakili said she did not expect a prison term especially when she had surrendered to the police.
The court heard that she entered Hongkong in 1986 and began working.
In 1988, her best friend asked her to lend her passport to her for use as security for a bank loan.
The friend borrowed $8,000 and had deposited her own passport as security. But she needed to go to the Philippines to buy land and asked Vakili to deposit her passport in exchange for hers.