Pinay FDH avoids prison, sends employer to jail

Soy Street in Mong Kok

After being stranded here in Hong Kong for the last seven months, a Filipino domestic worker finally succeeded in sending her former employer to jail for making her take on an illegal job in Mong Kok.

A judge in the Sha Tin Magistrates’ Courts sentenced her employer, Au Shiu Tung, to three months in prison on June 30 after he was found guilty of “aiding, abetting, counseling or procuring the breach of condition of stay” when he ordered the Filipina to work in his Mong Kok store, which sold snacks.

The prosecution secured his conviction with the testimony of the worker, with initials E.F.J.

“Yes, (E.F.J.) was the sole prosecution witness (in the case). The court found her to be an honest and reliable witness,” a government prosecutor said.

The Filipina said she felt glad after hearing the ruling, especially since she had been staying here in Hong Kong for the last seven months without a job.

She survived with the help of the Philippine Bethel Church and Ministries-Hong Kong, which provided her food and shelter since December.

“Kung walang tumulong sa akin, nasa loob ng kulungan na siguro ako. Salamat talaga sa mga tumulong (If no one had helped me, I would have ended up in prison. Thank you, really, to those who helped me),” E.F.J. told Hong Kong News in an interview on July 4.

The domestic worker was arrested on December 1 when the police raided her employer’s store along Soy Street in Mong Kok.

After her arrest, E.F.J. wanted to plead guilty and just serve out her jail sentence but then Sha Tin Magistrate Ho Chun-yiu convinced her to testify for the prosecution and stay in Hong Kong despite her being jobless.

After several postponements, the Filipina finally testified at the Sha Tin magistracy on June 21 against her employer.

She told the court that, on Au’s orders, she washed food containers, cut octopuses, and prepared French fries and the ingredients for the waffles that were sold at his store.

“That was the instruction of my employer,” the domestic worker said.

“I washed food containers in the shop and delivered some stuff like the French fries which they sold,” she added.

E.F.J said she came to Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper on May 28 last year but, the following day, her employer told her to work in his Mong Kong store.

The Filipina also said she did not know beforehand that she was going to end up working in the store, adding that she did not get any extra pay.

“After cutting up the octopus and preparing the waffle mix, I’d bring them to the shop. I’d prepare the ingredients, bring them to the shop, and cook them there,” the worker said.

E.F.J. said she stayed in a flat near the store and prepared the cooking ingredients there. She did not stay or work in her employer’s home in Mei Foo.

The Filipina said she told her employer at one time that she wanted to stop working at the store because she was “afraid” of what might happen if the place got raided.

She said she was already planning to resign but she eventually decided not to leave because she had a loan to pay.

“I have a loan I wanted to pay so I did not talk anymore,” E.F.J. said.

The Filipina admitted to the charge of breach of condition of stay but, because of her successful court testimony, Sha Tin Deputy Magistrate Lam Tsz-kan on July 5 suspended for two years her jail sentence of two months.

This means she does not have to serve out the jail sentence if she does not commit any crime in Hong Kong in the next two years.

“I want to go home already,” said E.F.J., who has a 10-year-old son and elderly parents waiting back in the Philippines.

She is said to be their sole breadwinner after being estranged for the last five years from her husband, who is working in South Korea.

E.F.J. also has to secure her air ticket back to the Philippines from her former employer, who is now in jail.

“Immigration told me to follow that up with the Labour Department,” she said.

Barrister Jeffrey C.F. Sham, the Filipina’s counsel, said she might have a hard time applying again for work in Hong Kong now that she has a criminal record here.

“That might be difficult but it is good that we got a suspended sentence. The usual sentence for breach of condition of stay is three months,” Sham said.

E.F.J., however, has no plans of coming back to Hong Kong to work as a domestic helper.

“I might come back, but to go on tour,” she said.