Hong Kong domestic helper from Philippines jailed for six months after bathing baby in bleach
- Deputy magistrate calls incident a ‘deliberate act to cause suffering’ for six-month-old girl
A Hong Kong domestic helper was on Friday jailed for six months for causing a six-month-old girl to be bathed in bleach.
Merlyn Anao Ando, 39, claimed she had accidentally left a Johnson’s Baby bottle containing diluted bleach beside the bath, and denied pouring it in the tub.
However, deputy magistrate Jerry Chung Ming-shing sided with her employer and rejected the domestic worker’s evidence.
“It was a deliberate act to cause suffering to an infant,” Chung concluded after trial. “The prosecution has proved every element of the offence.”
Sha Tin Court heard the baby’s mother first noticed something strange on August 13 last year when she added some floral water to the bath and saw the colour of the water had changed.
But she proceeded to bathe her daughter after her two helpers assured her they had followed the usual procedures.
“Having bathed the baby for a few minutes, my hand and arm felt something hot,” the mother said. “Almost at the same time, the baby started crying.”
It was a deliberate act to cause suffering to an infant
Ando reported the incident to police as instructed by her employer. A doctor then examined the infant and found her to be a “lively and playful” baby with “no obvious marks or injuries”.
But a police officer noticed redness on the infant’s right thigh and abdomen.
At trial, Ando denied preparing the bath, and suggested it was the mother, while distracted, who poured the bleach into the water from the Johnson’s Baby bottle.
However, on how the bleach got into the container, the magistrate said there was no question Ando had poured the solution inside. She then kept quiet about it despite her employer asking her three times if there was something wrong with the bath water.
Chung also concluded that Ando was not a credible witness, while her employer had given clear, honest and reliable evidence supported by reason and details.
Ando, who had no prior criminal record, was found guilty of ill-treatment by those in charge of a child or young person.
In mitigation, her defence counsel John Marray asked the court to remember that the strength of the bleach was unlikely to have been strong when mixed with the bath water, and that the baby did not suffer any injury.
Seven months was adopted as a starting point for sentencing but was reduced by a month after Chung took into account Ando’s clear record and the absence of permanent injury.
