By Daisy CL Mandap
 |
| The judicial review filed on CB's behalf will be heard at the High Court in September |
Retired British doctor Brian Drew Apthorp had kept in his
computer files videos of him engaged in sexual acts with other Filipina
domestic workers.
This was according to a press release issued by lawyers for
CB, the Filipina domestic worker who succeeded in getting Apthorp, her former
employer, convicted of two counts of indecent assault.
Apthorp, who was remanded in custody immediately after being
found guilty of the offences on Jul 2, will be sentenced at the Eastern
Magistracy on Jul 15.
In their statement, solicitors Patricia Ho and Associates
said that among the evidence in police’s possession are two videos showing two
FDHs “performing fellatio on Apthorp and Apthorp engaging in sexual acts with
them.”
The police is said to have also kept a photo from an album
kept in Apthorp’s room showing pictures of “naked women in compromising
positions.”
These, said the lawyers, is evidence “which points at least
to the suspicion that CB was not Apthorp’s first victim.”
But even while they had these in their possession, the police
decided not to charge Apthorp with more serious offences, including human
trafficking, which would have been brought before a higher court.
"Despite requests from CB’s lawyers that the matter
should be dealt with in a way which is commensurate with the gravity and
heinousness of the acts committed, the Police maintained their course in
prosecuting the case at the Magistrate’s Court on account of two counts of
indecent assault,” said the solicitors.
“This occurred in light of their purported policy of
protecting foreign domestic helpers from trafficking and exploitation…” their
statement added.
Because he was convicted in the magistracy, the “normal
maximum penalty” that could be imposed on Apthorp is two years in jail and a
fine of $100,000, said the statement. This could go up to 3 years’ imprisonment
and a fine of $5 million if two or more indictable offences are dealt with at
the same time.
The solicitors are now pursuing a case for judicial review
against the decision by the Commissioner of Police and the Secretary of Justice
not to file a case for human trafficking against Apthorp.
In the judicial challenge, CB will be arguing through her solicitors
that the Hong Kong government “has got it
wrong with respect to their interpretation of trafficking,” said the
solicitors.
The absence of a bespoke or a specific law targeting human
trafficking is, in this case, the reason “why the magistracy conviction is an
inadequate response," they added.
In a separate interview following Apthorp’s conviction, CB
confirmed the existence of the videos and photos showing her fellow helpers in
sleazy acts, which she told The SUN, were kept by the octogenarian doctor in his
personal computer.
She said it was after seeing them that she decided to gather
the courage to flee.
 |
| CB says she wants justice for all the other helpers who were abused by Apthorp |
Speaking at the end of her testimony in Eastern Court in March, she said: “Hindi
ko ginagawa ito para sa sarili ko kundi para sa lahat ng mga foreign domestic
helper na nagtrabaho sa kanya at inabuso niya.”
(I am doing this not for myself but for all the foreign
domestic helpers who had worked for him and were abused by him).
The Filipina was hired by Apthorp in September 2018 after
she responded to an online advertisement for a domestic helper.
"Over the course of the next 6 months, she would be
sexually exploited as a tool to gratify (Apthorp's) perversions," said her solicitors' statement.
The first sexual assault happened on Sept 11, 2018, when Apthorp
fondled her breasts and inserted his fingers and an instrument into her
genitals under the guise of a medical check-up.
CB fled the room after that that, but decided to continue
with the job after a fellow domestic helper named Janice assured her that the
retired doctor did the same check on all his staff.
After that incident, the elderly man ordered CB to give him
daily massages while he lay on his bed, stark naked. CB was then told to pinch
the man's nipples and look into his eyes while he masturbated.
Later came the "Whipping Thursdays" when CB was required
to perform masochistic sexual acts on the employer. On these days, Apthorp
would stand in front of the mirror in his bedroom and instruct CB to whip his
buttocks and penis with a variety of tools.
He gave exact instructions as to which tool
was to be used and the specific number of times he was to be hit by each
tool. Sometimes he would masturbate
while being whipped.
The various whips used in these sessions were among those
confiscated by the police when they raided Apthorp's house.
On the days she resisted, CB said Apthorp had punished her
by making her do hard physical tasks, like cutting and pulling off all the
bamboo trees in his garden, then hauling them up several flights of stairs so
she could dump them by the roadside.
In April 2019, CB had the chance to escape when Apthorp left
Hong Kong for his annual six-month stay in France. She sought help from the non-government organization, Help for Domestic Workers, which advised her to leave the employer's house and seek police help.
