Hong Kong woman found guilty of severely abusing Indonesian maid

A Hong Kong woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid has been found guilty of 18 out of the 20 charges laid against her in court. In a case that sparked international outrage, Law Wan-tung, a 44-year-old mother-of-two, was arrested in January last year for seriously wounding her former domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih. Law denies all the charges against her, including causing grievous bodily harm with intent, criminal intimidation and failure to pay wages - a total of 21 counts, some of which also relate to her previous employees. The most serious carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

We are workers, we are not slaves, justice for Erwiana, prosecute Law Wan-tung!

A group of domestic workers protesting outside a Hong Kong court

Sulistyaningsih, who was swarmed by journalists when she arrived ahead of the verdict, has described in vivid detail how she was “tortured”, starved, beaten and ritually humiliated by Law, with prosecutors saying she was treated as an “unpaid slave”. Pictures of the injuries sustained by the 23-year-old, who was admitted to hospital in Indonesia emaciated and in a critical condition, shocked Hong Kong and sparked anger in her home country. Hong Kong is home to nearly 300,000 maids from mainly Southeast Asian countries - predominantly Indonesia and the Philippines - and criticism from rights groups over their treatment is growing.

Maid Abuse Asia-Pacific