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| Pinay DH set free in Kwun Tong court |
By Vir B. Lumicao
The Filipina domestic worker in the much-publicized vibrator
assault case walked free from Kwun Tong court on Dec 8 after the prosecution
withdrew a charge of ill-treatment of a child against her for lack of evidence.
Gina Buduan, 38, shed tears of joy after Magistrate Don So
told her she could go.
The Filipina had been in police custody since last October
after she was arrested for allegedly using her employer’s pink vibrator to
assault her two-year-old female ward.
On Dec 7, the prosecutor told the court she was withdrawing
the charge because investigators could not gather enough evidence against Buduan,
despite a medical report showing the child “had rashes and abrasions on her
body”.
The helper, whose eyes were smarting when she appeared on
the dock, finally walked free after the magistrate said no one could tell how
her ward got hurt.
“A two-year-old cannot tell between a lie and the truth. How
she hurt herself is a mystery”, So said.
The prosecutor said the child could not tell her mother and
the investigators how she got injured. Likewise, she could not tell the exact
date when she suffered those rashes and abrasions.
A police report on the incident said the employer, from Lohas Park
She took the child to a doctor, who prescribed ointment for
the redness on the girl’s genitals. When the mother applied the ointment in the
evening, the girl allegedly told her Buduan had poked the dildo on her private
part and tied a black mouth gag on her thighs.
The employer reported the matter to the police and Buduan
was arrested. When she first appeared in court on Oct 31, the helper denied the
charge.
