Hong Kong police have decided not to file charges against a local couple accused of assaulting their Filipino domestic worker, Ruth Ramos Daria, last April.In a letter sent to Daria on June 22, the police thanked the Filipina for filing the complaint, but said: “The Police investigation has now finished and the evidence obtained in the investigation has been considered. At present there is insufficient evidence to prove any person has committed a crime. If in the future, any additional information becomes available to assist further investigation into this incident, the case will then be reviewed”.
The police decision dashed Daria’s hopes of filing a separate case for compensation for the injuries she claimed to have suffered as a result of being thrown out of her employer’s house in Tai Kok Tsui on Apr 3 following a dispute over a broken laundry hanger.
She had also hoped to find a new employer and process a new contract before leaving Hong Kong. Instead, her visa was extended only up to June 24, or two days after police informed her of their decision not to file charges.
Earlier, on May 19, Daria was paid a full month’s salary of $4,110 in lieu of notice in a settlement reached with her employer, Wong Wai-keung, at the Labour Department. The employer had initially refused to pay, saying he was not the one who terminated their contract.
But the Filipina insisted that she was effectively terminated because of the employer’s act of driving her away.
In a written statement she gave to police, Daria said that the alleged altercation happened shortly after she returned to her employer’s house at about 7:45pm that day after her day-off. As she was not given a key to the house, she had to wait until her employer and his wife and two children arrived at about 8pm to get in.
The employer’s wife reportedly got mad on seeing a broken laundry hanger. The row escalated when Daria denied causing a crack in the washing machine, which she said had been there from the time she started working for them.
The angry couple reportedly pushed Daria out of the house, but she tried to get back in as she did not have anything with her. When she tried to retrieve her handbag, a scuffle with the couple reportedly left Daria bruised.
The Filipina then called the police, then left after they finished investigating. She spent the night at her cousin’s boarding house in Mongkok.
The next day, Daria said she saw the bruises and scratches on her arms, and decided to seek help from the Philippine Consulate, which in turn advised her to get a medical report, then file a complaint with the police.
