Judge sends FDH to jail for assaulting employer’s child

The Eastern Magistrates' Courts in Sai Wan Ho.

A former domestic helper has been sentenced to two months and two weeks in prison after pleading guilty to five charges of common assault for hitting the four-year-old son of her employer.

Eastern Courts Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai on Friday said the starting point for Rochelle L.D.’s sentence was four and half months for each of the five counts of the charge.

Judge Chainrai however reduced the sentence to three months each following Rochelle’s guilty plea. She further reduced it to two months and two weeks each, noting the defendant had been staying in Hong Kong for more than a year without any income.

“I view the offenses to be serious offenses. The victim was a child within your care…and you were in a position of trust. The (offenses) took place between March and April 2016,” Judge Chainrai said.

The magistrate added that although the child did not sustain any permanent injury and there was no need for him to undergo psychological counselling, the defendant assaulted him with her own hand, and in one occasion the child’s nose bled.

A video footage of the assault was taken by another Filipino domestic helper and used by the prosecution against Rochelle.

In sentencing, Judge Chainrai noted that it took more than a year for the prosecution to firm up the charges against Rochelle, and during the time, the defendant stayed in Hong Kong without any source of income.

The sentence for each charge would be served concurrently.

The defendant had worked at her employer for four years and was one of the three helpers in the house.