By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Marsha Love manages to smile outside court at the end of her 3-year nightmare |
Her
nightmare of the past three years ended today for 31-year-old Marsha Love
Anabeza, when she was sentenced at Shatin Court to three months’ imprisonment,
suspended for 24 months, for offences she reluctantly admitted to end her
ordeal.
Anabeza
faced two counts of false representation and one of giving false particulars to
immigration officer. These all stemmed from her having been brought to Hong Kong
to work as a domestic helper by a recruiter named Li Bik Shuen Anita, who told
her at the last minute that her intended employer had migrated to Australia.
For
the false representation charges, Magistrate David Cheung sentenced Anabeza to
two concurrent sentences of three months each; plus an extra month for giving false
information.
Cheung
said he was suspending the sentences after taking note that Anabeza was forced
to remain in Hong Kong for three years while her case was being investigated,
and that this led to “substantial hardship” on her part because she was not
allowed to work during this time, and could not send money to her two children
in the Philippines.
The
magistrate also considered Anabeza’s clear record, her being a newcomer in Hong
Kong and her willingness to act as a
witness against Li, who had pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting
on Wednesday and will be sentenced on Dec 16.
Cheung
also said that while Anabeza had known that her potential employer had already
left Hong Kong, he understood that she was “easily be manipulated by her
employment agent.”
Before
the sentencing, Cheung called for a short break so prosecution could verify
that this was the first time that Anabeza had come to Hong Kong to work as a
domestic helper, indicating this would have a significant impact on the
sentence he would impose.
This
led to a tense situation in court when an observer asked Anabeza if she would
consider reversing her plea, as it had become apparent after Li’s admission in
court that she was the one at fault for abetting her coming to Hong Kong on
false pretenses.
Confused,
Anabeza broke down and for a while, gave the suggestion serious thought. Esther
Bangcawayan from the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge where Anabeza has
been looked after for three years, patiently explained the situation to her.
In the end, Anabeza
said she would just go ahead with her guilty plea, as she had already waited
too long for her ordeal to end.
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| Marsha and Esther, her guardian from Bethune House, get a treat after the court case |
The
charges against Anabeza stemmed from her having been enticed to come to Hong
Kong by Li on August 15, 2019, even while knowing that the employer who had
signed her contract, Zhang He, had already left the city.
The
first charge was over her declaration on arrival at Hong Kong airport
that she would work as a domestic helper for Zhang.
The
second was for declaring on Aug 28, 2019 when she applied for a Hong Kong ID
card that she was living at her contractual address, which was Tower 1 of The
Waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The
third was when she went to Immigration on Oct. 8, 2019 and told an officer that
Zhang had terminated their contract three days earlier. That was when her lies
were uncovered, and she was put under investigation.
But
Anabeza has all along said that in all those occasions, Li had coached her on what
she was supposed to tell the immigration officers. Having been in Hong Kong for
less than two months, she said she did not know that she was committing a
serious offence. She was also desperate for work so she could send money to her
children.
When
Li told her shortly before she was to fly out to Hong Kong that her employer
had backed out and had migrated to Australia, Anabeza was already in dire
straits. She had already spent quite a sum, including the P48,000 she was
charged for undergoing training in Manila, and the work she had looked forward
to was the only way for her to recoup what she had already spent.
In
desperation, she asked Li to find her a new employer, and the agent said yes.
Li
then met the Filipina at the airport and took her to a house in Kwun Tong,
assuring her that it was only a temporary arrangement, and she would find her
another employer. Anabeza said she was treated so badly in that household and
was not even given breakfast, so she asked Li to find her another employer.
After
about two months, Li told her to go to Immigration and report that Zhang had
terminated her contract. That was how all the lies that the agent had made her tell,
unfolded.
Anabeza,
who is separated from her husband, had provided solely for her daughter, now 14
years old; and son, 12 when she worked at a pharmacy in their hometown of Koronadal,
South Cotabato, before she decided to find work abroad.
Her
only consolation during the three dark and lonely years that she was forced to
remain in Hong Kong was how well her children have done in school, with their grandparents
looking after them, and how fiercely they have clung to the hope that she would
be home soon.
