By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Erwiana with the Misiion's Cynthia Tellez ar the srtart of the hearing of her civil claim |
Indonesian former domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih
has been awarded her total claim of $809, 403 against her former Hong Kong employer who
tortured her for more than seven months three years ago.
District Court Judge Winnie Tsui handed down the judgment on
Dec. 21 with neither party present.
In her decision, Judge Tsui called
Sulistyaningsih’s maltreatment “inhumane, degrading and abhorrent.”
Sulistyaningsih is due to hold a press conference at 2:30pm
today in Jordan to speak about her court victory. She will be assisted by the
Mission for Migrant Workers manager Cynthia Tellez and Asian Migrants
Coordinating Body chair Eni Lestari, who both helped Sulistyaningsih pursue her
case.
It was the second vindication for Sulistyaningsih, whose
former employer, Law Wan-tung, was jailed for six years in 2015 for her almost
daily abuse of the Indonesian helper.
“The things which then defendant did to the plaintiff over
those seven months were not done merely to inflict physical pain. They were
meant to insult and to subdue the plaintiff to a state of total submission to
the defendant’s authority,” Tsui said.
The damages awarded comprised $450,000 for pain, suffering and
loss of amenities; $180,000 in aggravated damages for repeated assault and
false imprisonment; $86,249 for pre-trial loss of earnings; $50,000 for loss of
earning capacity; pre-trial expenses of $33,269 and future medical expenses of
$9,910.
Now 25 years old and studying management and economics,
Sulistyaningsih initiated the civil action against her former boss on Mar 16,
2015, about a month after Law was jailed for six years by District Court Judge
Amanda Woodcock.
Tsui noted that Sulistyaningsih, represented by Tony Ko from
Boase, Cohen & Collins, had filed
two statements before the hearing.
“She also gave evidence as the only witness at the hearing,”
Tsui said.
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| Law at her court trial |
Law, meanwhile, “acting in person, was not in any position
to put forward a positive case to counter the amount of damages claimed by the
plaintiff,” the judge said. The jailed former employer also chose not to cross
examine the plaintiff.
Thus, the court said it could not consider Law’s
allegations that Sulistyaningsih’s injuries were not as serious as the helper had
claimed.
“Having considered (Sulistyaningsih’) evidence as a whole, I
accept in full the factual account given by the plaintiff as true, including
the abuses and maltreatment that she had gone through and endured…and her
physical injuries and psychiatric symptoms,” Tsui said.
