Shocking extent of maid abuse in Hong Kong laid bare
Marginalised by Hong Kong society and its laws, domestic helpers are left vulnerable to horrific abuse, writes Simon Parry, and a newly compiled body of research suggests the problem is far more extensive than has been previously reported
After the interrogation, the police officer led his suspect into a room. He drew the blinds and closed the door. Then, using his fists and a coat hanger, he delivered a beating that left her with dark bruises on her arms and back. When the attack was over, the officer walked calmly out of the room, leaving the 34-year-old mother-of-three sobbing, reeling in shock and pain, and shared the details of the vicious punishment he had meted out with his fellow interrogator.
It sounds like a scene from a 1970s Hong Kong cop movie.
But the real-life scene, according to the victim’s testimony, was a Hong Kong police officer’s home, the fellow interrogator was his wife, and the suspect he assaulted was the couple’s domestic helper.
Her crime, the latest of many misdemeanours allegedly punished by brutal attacks by the officer and his wife, was leaving a window open at their home when the air-conditioning was on.
Distraught at her latest painful humiliation, the helper fled and filed a criminal complaint against the policeman and then sought refuge in one of the city’s charity-run shelters for abused domestic helpers.
Her testimony, supported by pictures of her injuries and evidence of past beatings, seemed compelling. But a few days after filing her complaint, the helper suddenly announced to her friends and supporters that she was dropping the case and returning to the Philippines. The reason she gave was even more startling than the assault itself.
