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| Nora outside District Court, pushing a suitcase and bag containing documents pertaining to the flat |
For nearly five years she had clung to the hope
that the flat she claimed was left to her by deceased Chinese fiancé would
eventually be transferred in her name, but without a title, will or even a
letter to prove her stake there was no way she could have legally claimed it as
hers.
On Tuesday, October 27, Nora Rafanan Madriaga, finally
agreed to surrender possession of the two-bedroom Home Ownership flat in Tai Wo
Hau to Lee Wai Hung, brother of her late fiancé, Lee Wai-man
“Pagod na ako,”
(I am tired) Nora, who is in her 40s, said after agreeing to settle her claim
for a fraction of what had been originally offered her shortly after Wai-man
died of liver cancer in December 2021.
Nora said Wai Hung had initially offered her HK$1
million in exchange for passing on the title and keys to the flat,
but she resisted, saying she was given wrong advice. Instead, she demanded no
less than HK$1.7 million.
The offer went down to HK$500,000 by March last year
after she took out a writ at the District Court to press her claim, but she
still resisted.
At the time, she was still being represented by counsel
whom Nora said she had paid around HK$250,000 from the proceeds of several
insurance policies Wai-man had taken, naming her as beneficiary.
But by the time her claim was scheduled for trial on
Monday, Nora no longer had a lawyer, saying she had no money to continue paying
the hefty legal fees. Wai Hung, on the other hand, had secured counsel from
Legal Aid, and was no longer in a position to offer much in compromise
settlement.
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| Wai Hung and his wife leave court after settling the case with Nora |
They agreed that Nora would be given HK$10,000 after
she vacated possession of the flat and turned over relevant documents and the
keys she had kept since Wai-man’s death. The offer was originally HK$20,000 but
she could not account for some of the documents she was meant to surrender.
Nora also undertook to vacate the attachment of her writ
to the flat so it could be sold. Once sold, and subject to the balance left
after the legal charge was paid, she will be paid an additional HK$80,000.
When she asked if there was any guarantee that she
would be paid this amount in future, Judge Harold Leong said it was up to Wai
Hung to decide whether he wanted to sell, but if he does sell, then he’s legally
bound to pay her the agreed price.
But to appease her, Judge Leong told the Legal Aid lawyers
that they must remind Wai Heung about his undertaking to pay Nora if the sale
goes through.
Outside court, Nora said her heart still ache from Wai
Man’s death just a month before they were supposed to marry, after nearly eight
years of being in a relationship. She proudly displayed a ring that she said was
part of a set that her late fiancée had bought for them shortly before he was
diagnosed with cancer.
Nora said that throughout her fiancee’s three-month
battle with the disease she had stayed by his side, with blessings from her
employer who lives just across Wai Man’s flat, and who was fast friends with him and his late
mother.
In turn, Wai Man had reportedly been extra good to her, treating
her to fancy restaurants on her days off, and even giving her a monthly
allowance after they officially became a couple in 2014. She said even his
family, including his mother and brother Wai Hung, treated her well.
She was thus relieved when on the second day of the
court hearing, she saw Wai Hung’s wife who was in court with him, smile for the first time since they tangled because of her claim. Nora hopes
this would soon pave the way for them to leave the animosity behind, especially
as she is already thinking of returning to the Philippines for good.
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