DH walks free as sexual assault case dropped

Pinay DH set free in Kwun Tong court

By Vir B. Lumicao

The Filipina domestic worker in the much-publicized vibrator assault case walked free from Kwun Tong court on Dec 8 after the prosecution withdrew a charge of ill-treatment of a child against her for lack of evidence.

Gina Buduan, 38, shed tears of joy after Magistrate Don So told her she could go.

The Filipina had been in police custody since last October after she was arrested for allegedly using her employer’s pink vibrator to assault her two-year-old female ward.

On Dec 7, the prosecutor told the court she was withdrawing the charge because investigators could not gather enough evidence against Buduan, despite a medical report showing the child “had rashes and abrasions on her body”.

The helper, whose eyes were smarting when she appeared on the dock, finally walked free after the magistrate said no one could tell how her ward got hurt.

“A two-year-old cannot tell between a lie and the truth. How she hurt herself is a mystery”, So said.

The prosecutor said the child could not tell her mother and the investigators how she got injured. Likewise, she could not tell the exact date when she suffered those rashes and abrasions.

A police report on the incident said the employer, from Lohas Park, Tseung Kwan O, discovered in mid-October that her daughter had pain in her private part.

She took the child to a doctor, who prescribed ointment for the redness on the girl’s genitals. When the mother applied the ointment in the evening, the girl allegedly told her Buduan had poked the dildo on her private part and tied a black mouth gag on her thighs.   

The employer reported the matter to the police and Buduan was arrested. When she first appeared in court on Oct 31, the helper denied the charge.