 |
| The Kowloon City magistrate rejected a plea not to said the defendant to jail |
A Filipina lesbian domestic helper was locked up for two
months on Thursday, Jul 2, in Kowloon City Court for sharing her girlfriend’s
nude photos on WhatsApp even after the woman gave in to her demand for money.
K.K. Caday, 34, was sentenced by Magistrate Amy Chan after
pleading guilty to the offence of blackmail on Jun 26. She was immediately
taken into custody after the sentencing as she was out on bail.
The defendant was arrested in November 2018 after the 48-year-old
victim, also a Filipino helper identified only as “X”, reported the case to the
police.
The prosecution said the defendant and X became lovers in
2018. Since then, Caday had been asking money from the victim to pay for her
loans from United Asia Finance.
In early September 2018, the defendant asked for $3,704 to
pay off her loan but X refused.
On Sept 3, Caday sent X via WhatsApp her nude photo that the
lesbian had taken while they were having cybersex. Caday threatened to send the photo to the
victim’s friends if she didn’t give her money.
The girlfriend called up Caday explaining she didn’t have
money, but the lesbian threatened her with a break-up.
A week later, some of X’s friends sent her nude photos that
they had received from Caday. Fearing that more of her friends would receive
the photos, X paid $3,704 into Caday’s UA loan account on Oct 4, 2018.
But after one of their mutual friends forwarded to X three
more of her nude photos sent by Caday on WhatsApp, the victim reported the
matter to the police on Oct 28, 2018.
The prosecution said the defendant remained silent after her
arrest on Nov 13, 2018, but admitted the offense during an interview on Feb 22
last year.
In mitigation, the defense lawyer proposed to Magistrate
Chan a non-custodial sentence, saying Caday had already compensated X for the
$3,704 that she had paid for the defendant’s UA loan.
The lawyer said Caday’s 74-year-old employer was willing to
continue hiring the helper as no one would look her. The counsel also said the
defendant was supporting her 72-year-old mother in the Philippines and was remorseful.
The magistrate was not convinced and ordered the lawyer to
stop as he kept mumbling. She said the offense was very serious because, after
threatening X about her nude photos if she didn’t give money, Caday still shared
them with their friends.
Chan gave discounts to Caday’s sentence to reflect her
guilty plea and her repayment of the amount that her girlfriend was forced to
pay because of the blackmail threat.
