The SUN HK : Employers of OFW in Shenzhen death fall still no-show in court

By Vir B. Lumicao

Nearly 3 years since Lorain fell to her death in Shenzhen, her employers have avoided any responsibility for her death

A Chinese mainland couple who employed Lorain Asuncion, a Filipina domestic helper who plunged to her death nearly three years ago from a residential tower in Shenzhen, has disappeared.

This became apparent when a compensation claim brought by Asuncion’s family against Gu Huaiyu and his wife, Ms Liu, resumed in District Court today, Jun 5.

Solicitor Patricia Ho, who represented the Asuncion family, said that for the past several months, her office had been trying to find Gu, 49, and Liu, 34, but to no avail.

Pindutin para sa detalye

“We’ve been trying to contact them, but we have not found them. They simply disappeared,” Ho said at the hearing of the employee compensation claim filed by Asuncion’s elder sister, Jenevieve A. Javier.

Gu and Liu have not been heard from since Asuncion fell to her death a day after she was told by her employers to follow them to Shenzhen in July 2017.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

“As it is, we can’t move forward with the case because the employers are not around,” Ho said.

However, a representative from Blue Cross Insurance Co, with whom Asuncion was apparently insured by her employer, was in court.

The District Court in Wanchai will hear the case again on Jul 24

Judge Katina Levy adjourned the hearing until Jul 24 to give Ho and the insurance company time to prepare documents relating to the compensation claim.

The case has been stuck in District Court for the past several months because the employers have not surfaced. The couple was also not in court in the previous hearing in January.

Gu and Liu had lived in Hong Kong where they signed the employment contract with Asuncion, but crossed the border on long weekends to spend time with Liu’s father in Longgang, a district of Shenzhen.

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It was from the 22^nd floor flat of Liu Heping that Asuncion fell to her death on Jul 23 or 24, according to Shenzhen police.

Gu and Liu were arrested on Aug 17, 2017 and held on a charge of conspiring to defraud Hong Kong Immigration by claiming Asuncion would work only in the territory.

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But nearly a year later, on May 7, 2018, they were released after investigators said there was not enough evidence against them.

This was even after the police discovered that the couple had taken Asuncion across the border four times in the nine months that she had served them.

The Hong Kong Labour Department has not conducted its own investigation, citing lack of jurisdiction, as the maid died outside Hong Kong.

The authorities’ inaction prompted militant OFWs and local labor unions to stage a rally at the Labour Department last year to urge the government to stop employers from taking their helpers to work in China.