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Retired Hong Kong teacher given suspended jail sentence for assaulting Filipino domestic helper

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Brian Wong, South China Morning Post

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The court heard that the retired teacher pulled the domestic worker’s hair and slapped her face, shoulder and back after the latter refused to give her a hand massage. Photo: Winson Wong, South China Morning Post" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/10/17/20221017-law-bldg-scmp.jpg"/><figcaption>The court heard that the retired teacher pulled the domestic worker’s hair and slapped her face, shoulder and back after the latter refused to give her a hand massage. <em>Photo: Winson Wong, South China Morning Post</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A retired teacher in Hong Kong has received a suspended jail sentence for assaulting her domestic worker who refused to massage her hands.</p><p>Chow Ching-yee, 65, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a count of common assault against Ruby Funa Caman after telling police she had pulled the worker’s hair and slapped her at her residence.</p><p>Passing sentence at Sha Tin Court on Monday, acting principal magistrate David Cheung Chi-wai warned against delivering the wrong message to society that attacks on foreign helpers could be dealt with leniently.</p><p>The magistrate jailed Chow for four weeks but suspended the term for 1½ years after finding no evidence the defendant had previous records of physical abuse.</p><p>The court heard that Caman, from the Philippines, began working for Chow and her husband at the couple’s flat in Villa Esplanada in Tsing Yi last December.</p><p>Chow, who worked as a teacher for more than 20 years, would sometimes scold the worker for not meeting her expectations, the court was told.</p><p>The offence stemmed from a dispute over “trivial matters” that took place during the morning of April 18, according to prosecutors’ case summary.</p><p>In the midst of an argument, Chow suddenly pulled Caman’s hair and slapped her face, shoulder and back for about half a minute. The former educator also tried to grab the helper’s smartphone after the latter filmed the assault.</p><p>Caman sustained a 2cm scratch mark on her right forearm and redness on her right shoulder.</p><p>Chow acknowledged in a police interview she had assaulted the helper out of anger and discontent with her job performance. She was remanded in custody for two weeks after pleading guilty on October 4.</p><p>A background report revealed that Chow lost her temper that morning after Caman refused to give her a hand massage.</p><p>Defence counsel said in mitigation the offence was out of character, adding the employer was suffering from depression and was mentally drained from taking care of her ill husband.</p><p>But the magistrate dismissed that contention, pointing to Chow’s verbal abuse of the helper on various occasions.</p><p>“Foreign helpers are not slaves,” Cheung said. “As an employer, the defendant could have dismissed the helper to mark her dissatisfaction with her job performance, instead of resorting to violence.”</p><p>However, the magistrate accepted the defendant could not properly control her emotion as she had stopped taking her medication and had not slept enough at the time of the offence.</p><p>He also noted Chow would have difficulty hiring a new worker given her conviction.</p><p>Common assault is punishable by up to one year behind bars.</p><div><strong>RELATED NEWS FROM THE ARCHIVE</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VeytogHtAhQ?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Acting principal magistrate David Cheung jails Chow Ching-yee for 4 weeks, but opted to suspend term for 1½ years. The court heard that Chow pulled Ruby Funa Caman’s hair and slapped her face, shoulder and back after the Filipino domestic helper refused to give her a hand massage.

Retired Hong Kong teacher given suspended jail sentence for assaulting Filipino domestic helper

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Retired Hong Kong teacher given suspended jail sentence for assaulting Filipino domestic helper

Brian Wong,

South China Morning Post

Published Oct 17, 2022 07:53 PM PHT

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South China Morning Post

Hong Kong

assault

Filipino domestic helper

domestic helper

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Filipino maid

Ruby Funa Caman

Chow Ching-yee

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