Ex-helper jailed for renting out room

A former domestic worker was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to operating an unlicensed guesthouse despite being a torture claimant.

M.L. Abad first came to Hong Kong to work as domestic helper in 2005, and in 2009 she filed a non-refoulement claim after giving birth to a son. Her duty lawyer said the defendant had no relationship with the father of her son

and Abad rented the extra room in the flat she is occupying with her son to augment their finances.  The prosecution charged Abad of accepting through her mobile phone a room reservation for her flat in Wan Chai.

On Mar.31, 2017, agents of the Home Affairs Bureau posed as customers and contacted the defendant to book a room. They then met on the afternoon of the same day, and at the 500-square-foot flat, the agents found an eight-year-old boy, who turned out to be the defendant’s son.

The defendant then proceeded to show the agents the room, and the blankets, pillows, and said the room’s rate is $510 for two nights. Police were then called, and the defendant was arrested. Mitigating, Abad’s duty lawyer said the defendant had no previous record, and it was the first time she rented out the room. “There is no evidence that she had other clients,” the defense said.

He added that she and her son were under the assistance of the ISS, and that she only wanted to earn additional income. “She is remorseful and pleaded guilty, and she wants to be reunited with her son,” the lawyer said. Eastern Magistracy Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai, however, said that besides the guilty plea, there was no other valid mitigation. For the first offense, Abad was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and the second offense, one month, but they would be served concurrently.