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Travistock estate, where the alleged assault happened. |
The trial of a Filipina accused of common assault on her male employer was put off yesterday (Dec. 8) after the lawyer defending her withdrew from the case at Eastern Court.
Senior Counsel Selwyn Yu, who started the day questioning
defendant Romalyn Marinay, 36 years old, said after the morning break that he
had just been told that her accuser, Shek Yuet-hey, had been his client in the
past, giving rise to a conflict of interest. He said he had forgotten this fact.
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PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
After apologizing to the court, he gathered his papers and walked out.
Magistrate Minnie Wat suspended the hearing until 3:30pm,
asking both the prosecution and defense lawyers to research the case referred
to by Yu, to determine whether this would affect the fairness of the
proceedings.
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When the court recovened at 3:40pm, both sides agreed that the circumstances in Yu’s previous case were too remote from the subject of Marinay’s case and thus there was no danger of bias.
But Magistrate Wat wanted to make sure and asked both sides
to do more research.
She adjourned the case to Dec. 20.
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I-CLICK DITO! |
Earlier, Yu showed several videos that Marinay took with her
mobile phone while she locked herself inside the room that she and another domestic
helper shared in Shek’s flat in Travistock, Tregunter Path, Midlevels, Central.
In one of the videos, Shek was recorded shouting: “I deliberately
came home to talk to you everyday.”
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DETALYE |
“Come on Romina, I’m waiting for you,” he said in another
video.
In still another video, he said, “Your ma’am cannot protect
you.”
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PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
In all these cases, she said, she was alone in the house
since the other helper was fetching Shek’s children from school.
As each video was shown, Yu asked Marinay what she felt as
Shek was ranting on the other side of the closed folding door, occasionally
hitting it.
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Pindutin para sa detalye |
“I was scared that he would hurt me if I go out,” Marinay said.
“Police told me to stay inside the room and record the event.”
She became the focus of Shek’s ire at the time when he and
his wife were going through divorce proceedings at the Family Court, and Marinay
was testifying for the wife.
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Pindutin para sa detalye |
The couple have since divorced, and Shek was told by the
court to move out of the house last August.
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PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
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PADALA NA! |
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PRESS FOR DETAILS |