Law Wan-tung, a married mother of two teenage children, pleaded not guilty to 20 charges of assault, criminal intimidation and failure to pay wages to the then 23-year-old maid, who moved to Hong Kong in May 2013 to live and work with the family.
The only charge Law pleaded guilty to was of failing to buy insurance for an employee.
In delivering her verdict, Judge Amanda Woodcock told the court Eriwana had no reason to fabricate the evidence. She said the abuse had been so frequent and over such a long period of time, it was reasonable that the young maid might not be able to recall specific dates.
Judge Woodcock found Law guilty of grievous bodily harm against Erwiana, common assault, and failing to pay her wages or give her statutory rest days. Sentencing has been deferred until February 27 to give the defense time to compile character references and psychological reports.
Seven months of abuse
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Erwiana said it was because she wasn’t let out, her passport had been taken, and she feared that Law would make good on her threats to kill her family. She tried to escape twice; both attempts failed. Her employer watched her every move, she said, even on CCTV via her mobile phone when she wasn’t there.
How abuse was exposed
When Erwiana’s employer escorted her to the airport in early January 2014, other Indonesian women noticed her condition and pressed her to tell them what had happened.
One of them, Riyanti, told CNN Erwiana tried to blame her scarred and blackened skin on allergies, before admitting, “I was tortured.”
Erwiana’s claims led to protests in Hong Kong, demands for justice and calls for the law to be changed to allow domestic foreign workers to live outside their employers’ home.
