Hong Kong employer jailed in 2015 for torturing Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih declared bankrupt
- Court records show the beautician, ordered to pay HK$809,430 to her victim and later HK$200,000 in legal costs to the Department of Justice, filed for bankruptcy in May
- Her abuse case drew worldwide attention to the plight of Hong Kong helpers working in dire conditions
Master Reuden Lai Tat-cheung of the High Court on Monday issued the bankruptcy order against Law Wan-tung.
Court records showed the beautician had petitioned for her own bankruptcy in May, without revealing the extent of her debts.
In February 2015, Law was jailed for six years and fined HK$15,000 after being found guilty of assaulting Erwiana and another Indonesian helper, Tutik Lestari Ningsih, while they were in her employ.
The abuse that took place from 2013 to 2014 made world news, and pictures of a bedridden Erwiana, her face swollen, put the working conditions of foreign helpers in Hong Kong under the spotlight.
During the trial, the District Court heard Law had punched Erwiana so hard her incisor teeth were fractured. Law also stripped her in the bathroom of her Tseung Kwan O flat and splashed her with cold water while pointing a fan at her.
On another occasion, Law twisted a metal tube from a vacuum cleaner inside her mouth, causing cuts to her lips.
For the injuries, Erwiana was awarded HK$809,430 (US$104,000) in damages in 2017, while Tutik won HK$170,000 the following year.
Law applied for a judicial review against the Legal Aid Department soon after she was jailed in 2015 after it refused to grant her financial aid to appeal against her convictions.
When the judicial review failed, Law was ordered by the High Court to pay the Department of Justice’s HK$200,000 in legal costs, with a further order that she use her property and other assets to do so after she claimed her bank balances were in the red.
Law lost her appeal against her conviction and sentence in 2016, with the Court of Appeal’s Mr Justice Michael Lunn warning that further attempts to clear her name could result in more jail time.
She was eventually given early release in 2018, after less than four years behind bars.
