HK employer acquitted of assaulting Filipina maid
HONG KONG - A Filipina broke down in tears on Wednesday as a Kwun Tong magistrate delivered a “not guilty" verdict in favor of her Chinese male employer whom she accused of indecently assaulting her.
According to deputy magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming, the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the employer, Sunny Chow Kam-kin, intended to touch the Filipina in her private area in a sexual manner.
The magistrate said he accepted that there had been touching (of the Filipina maid) but had to factor in the dim lighting in the bedroom where the alleged incident took place on Aug. 30 last year at about 1:15 am.
He said given this, he could not be “a hundred percent sure" that the touching was directed at the maid’s private parts.
The Filipina had accused the employer of indecently assaulting her while she was sleeping on the top bunk she shared with his daughter.
In court, she told of how she was roused from her sleep by someone fingering her private area while she was covered with a blanket, and had her clothes on.
Feeling shocked and scared, the Filipina said she saw her male employer on her right side, facing her. Though she failed to see his finger in her private area, she explained how she felt it.
She alleged, “Noong nagulat ako, hindi pa niya inalis ang daliri niya sa maselang parte ng katawan ko," and added that one or two seconds had passed before she regained her senses and screamed.
“He saw that I was so scared so he calmed me down saying not to scream," she said. “When he saw that I won’t be calmed down, he asked for an apology and said, ‘I am sorry."
As soon as the employer left the room, the Filipina contacted her mother who also works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. Her mother was the one who contacted the police.
The defense counsel argued in court that his client never admitted that he had indecently assaulted the maid, nor was it his intention to do so.
The employer was allegedly just trying to wake up the maid to remind her of his daughter’s dance lessons that morning and could not have been aware that he had touched her private part.
Meanwhile, the testimony of the Filipina’s mother caused so much confusion in court.
She was heavily grilled on the statement she gave to the police in which she mentioned that the touching had been directed at her daughter’s abdomen and private part using a hand and not a finger.
She later clarified that her daughter never mentioned about being touched on her abdomen, nor did her daughter demonstrate the employer’s alleged improper behavior.
She said that what she had told the police was her interpretation of what had happened.
The Filipina, who has worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong since 2002, started working for the family in Wong Tai Sin only in May, or a few months before the incident. - Smiley D. Julve, GMANews.TV
According to deputy magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming, the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the employer, Sunny Chow Kam-kin, intended to touch the Filipina in her private area in a sexual manner.
The magistrate said he accepted that there had been touching (of the Filipina maid) but had to factor in the dim lighting in the bedroom where the alleged incident took place on Aug. 30 last year at about 1:15 am.
He said given this, he could not be “a hundred percent sure" that the touching was directed at the maid’s private parts.
The Filipina had accused the employer of indecently assaulting her while she was sleeping on the top bunk she shared with his daughter.
In court, she told of how she was roused from her sleep by someone fingering her private area while she was covered with a blanket, and had her clothes on.
Feeling shocked and scared, the Filipina said she saw her male employer on her right side, facing her. Though she failed to see his finger in her private area, she explained how she felt it.
She alleged, “Noong nagulat ako, hindi pa niya inalis ang daliri niya sa maselang parte ng katawan ko," and added that one or two seconds had passed before she regained her senses and screamed.
“He saw that I was so scared so he calmed me down saying not to scream," she said. “When he saw that I won’t be calmed down, he asked for an apology and said, ‘I am sorry."
As soon as the employer left the room, the Filipina contacted her mother who also works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. Her mother was the one who contacted the police.
The defense counsel argued in court that his client never admitted that he had indecently assaulted the maid, nor was it his intention to do so.
The employer was allegedly just trying to wake up the maid to remind her of his daughter’s dance lessons that morning and could not have been aware that he had touched her private part.
Meanwhile, the testimony of the Filipina’s mother caused so much confusion in court.
She was heavily grilled on the statement she gave to the police in which she mentioned that the touching had been directed at her daughter’s abdomen and private part using a hand and not a finger.
She later clarified that her daughter never mentioned about being touched on her abdomen, nor did her daughter demonstrate the employer’s alleged improper behavior.
She said that what she had told the police was her interpretation of what had happened.
The Filipina, who has worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong since 2002, started working for the family in Wong Tai Sin only in May, or a few months before the incident. - Smiley D. Julve, GMANews.TV
Comments