Court acquits domestic helper of forcefully shaking baby

BE very careful next time.

This was the stern warning a judge in Kwun Tong gave a Filipino domestic helper after clearing her of accusations that she forcefully shook a 26-day-old baby in Tseung Kwan O.

Judge Jolie Chao on May 24 junked the case against the Ilongga defendant, with initials F.J.B.E., after the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charge of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of child or young person.

“Defendant, I must warn you, In case you are employed in Hong Kong again, you have to be very careful,” Judge Chao told the Filipina who was seen wiping away tears.

“You were given the responsibility of taking care of the baby. You might be inexperienced but if unsure, do not do anything that you are not sure,” the judge said.

“Luckily, in what you did, we did not see any dire consequences. You know there are other cases of Filipinos who shook babies and caused dire consequences,” she said.

“What you do might lead to lifelong consequences for children. You have been very lucky but I must warn you,” she added.

The defendant tearfully replied: “Yes, ma’am.”

The defendant was arrested after a CCTV camera caught her forcefully swaying while the child was in her arms. She claimed that she was trying to stop the baby from crying.

“I saw her forcefully shaking my child.  From the footage, I saw that the face of my child was red…He continued to cry,” the baby’s mother told the court on April 25.

The incident happened at around 8:55 a.m. on December 14 inside her employers’ kitchen in LOHAS Park. It was discovered the following day after her female employer saw the CCTV video.

The defendant told the court she had just prepared the milk for the baby, who was crying, and so she went inside the kitchen.

“The milk was still hot. While I was carrying him, I was dancing the baby,” the domestic worker said, describing how her body made small movements while the baby was in her arms.

The CCTV footage, which was shown in court, showed that the Filipina turned her upper body in a forceful manner from left to right and from right to left twice.

The defendant said that she did that because she wanted the baby to stop crying. She claimed that she saw her mother and sister in the Philippines do the same thing to stop babies from crying.

Her female employer told the court that she had instructed the domestic worker to be very careful in holding the baby because he was less than a month old. The Filipino denied being given instructions.

“I told her that every time she held the baby, she must be careful and hold him by supporting his neck…His neck is still soft,” the employer said.

“I was very hurt and I was disappointed. Why treat a 26-day-old baby that way? He was defenseless,” she added.

The employer said they took her child to a clinic where she was told that the baby had no “superficial injuries.”

The doctor who examined the boy recommended that they go to the hospital to check if he had any internal injury.

“I showed the doctor the CCTV footage and the doctor told me such action could lead to baby shaking syndrome,” the mother aid.

However, she said they were not able to go to the hospital.

In her ruling, Judge Chao said that, after reviewing the evidence, she could not rule out the possibility that the defendant was being honest when she claimed that she was “just dancing” and trying to soothe the baby.

“I can’t exclude the possibility that she was trying to put the baby to sleep by dancing,” the magistrate said. She noted that it was also the first time that the defendant was put in charge of taking care of a baby and was “inexperienced.”

“The defendant was with her (employer’s) family for just 20 days. The defendant was still at the stage of learning to take care of the baby,” the judge said.

To prove her guilt, the prosecution had to show that she either “willfully” hurt the baby or was so “reckless” that it caused unnecessary suffering or injury. However, the judge noted that the prosecution did not present any evidence showing that the baby was injured.