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| Shatin courthouse entrance. |
By Vir B. Lumicao
A Filipina domestic helper was acquitted in Shatin Court on
Tuesday, Nov 8, of a charge of breaching her condition of stay by allegedly
working in the snack shop of her Indian employer in Mirador Mansion in
Tsimshatsui.
Raquel Manacop was on the verge of tears as Magistrate Colin
Wong found her not guilty on the second day of a trial attended by her employer.
Magistrate Wong, however, rejected Manacop’s attempt to
recover court costs of $20,000 representing lawyer’s fee when she applied for
bail at the High Court after the magistrate court remanded her in jail custody
for the alleged offense.
The magistrate said the receipts presented by the Filipina
for reimbursement did not show her name as the payor of the cost as the
invoices bore the name of Worldwide Food, the company owned by her employer.
Wong only allowed reimbursement of the $540 that she paid for duty lawyer service and told her to collect her $15,000 bail money.
Manacop was arrested on Aug 10 after she sold food to an
Immigration officer who posed as a customer during an operation of the
department to ferret out foreigners performing jobs illegally.
The Immigration officer identified as PWI, giving evidence
on Monday, said he entered the restaurant of Manacop’s employer and saw the
Filipina sitting at a table near the payment counter.
PWI said he pointed to a food on the menu and asked the maid
how much it cost but the Filipina told him to wait for her employer, who was in
the toilet at the time.
The officer insisted to buy at that moment, pretending he
was in a hurry. So the Filipina took his money and gave him the food. She also
took out change from her own wallet and gave it to the officer.
A few seconds later, immigration officers and police arrived
and arrested Manacop for working illegally in the restaurant.
She was charged with breach of condition of stay before
Shatin Court Magistrate Andrew Ma, who ordered her remanded in custody and told
her to go to the High Court to apply for bail.
Manacop reasoned out that she dropped by at the shop and was waiting for her employer after coming from the market to buy food for the house.
Wong said he had to consider if Manacop’s selling the food
item to the undercover Immigration officer for five minutes constituted
employment.
He said he also had to consider why the defendant was
standing outside the cash counter while serving the officer, did not use the
cash register to put the cash paid by PW1, and used her own money to give the
customer his change.
In the end, the magistrate said he found Manacop not
guilty.
