By Vir B. Lumicao
A Filipina domestic worker accused of harming her young
female ward has pleaded not guilty to the charge on the first of her two-day
trial in Shatin Court
But after five prosecution witnesses gave evidence in court
on Jan 29, Magistrate Jerry Chung said defendant Merlyn Ando had a case to
answer.
Chung adjourned the hearing until Friday, Feb 1, when Ando
is expected to give evidence.
Ando is facing a charge of “Ill-treatment by those in charge of a child or young person” due to
injuries suffered by her employer’s six-month-old baby girl when the mother unknowingly
gave the baby a bath using water that had been tainted with bleach.
The employer,
Charlotte Chan, blamed the Aug 13, 2018 incident on the helper, who she accused
of wanting to cause harm by allegedly placing a plastic bottle of Chlorox
beside a bottle of Johnson & Johnson baby shower gel on the bathroom rack
for baby toiletries.
She said the
incident happened a day before Ando was to leave the employer’s flat after
resigning from her job. The maid began serving the family in February 2017, and
had been in their employ for one and a half years before the incident.
During
cross-examination, defense lawyer John Murray asked Chan if it was true that
she had been charging the helper for damages to her belongings, and that she
demanded Ando to pay her a month’s salary for resigning prematurely.
The employer
answered that she was aware of the Labour code and that the charges she
demanded were within the law.
Chan, the first
prosecution witness, said she prepared the baby’s bath herself. But she said
the maid had cleaned the toilet using the bleach just before she bathed her
baby.
As a result of
the tainted bath, the baby suffered redness on her arm and the side of her body
that irritated her skin, the employer said. Chan said she had to take the baby
to the Prince of Wales Hospital for treatment and observation, then complained
to the police.
Ando was
arrested on Aug 13 and had been kept in custody since because the prosecution
opposed granting bail to her.
Magistrate
Chung told the court he would finish the trial on Friday morning after giving
Ando a chance to give evidence. He also ordered the prosecution and defense lawyers
to make their submissions on their cases on that day.
