By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Female employer Lai is fully covered in black as she leaves the High Court after the trial |
A 34-year-old Filipina domestic worker told the High Court Friday how she sought help from the police the morning after her former male employer had raped her with help from his wife.
The Filipina who is shielded from the public while giving testimony in court, said she took the chance to go to the police station in Yuen Long after taking her eight-year-old ward to her school bus in the morning of Jan. 22, 2018.
“X” brought with her the clothes she had worn during the alleged rape, as well as a tissue paper which the female employer had used to wipe her husband’s semen.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
A medical check-up requested by police later showed the employer’s DNA was found in the helper’s body.
X said she didn’t dare leave her employers’ house after the assault the previous night or called the police to the house because she was scared of what the couple might to do to her.
But she did send a series of text messages to a friend she called “Ate Rose”, about how she was “used” (ginamit) by the couple and how they “debased” (binaboy) her. It was this friend who urged her to go to the police the next day.
The Filipina faced intense cross-examination by the defence counsel on day 5 of the trial of the couple she had served for only three months, from November 2017 to January 2018.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Court of First Instance Judge Alex Lee is presiding over the trial before a seven-man jury.
Male employer Chan Chim-tak, 48, faces one count of rape and another of attempted rape, while his wife, Lai Chi-san, 36, is charged with aiding and abetting the rape, and of indecent assault.
The offences allegedly happened on the night of Jan. 21, 2018, at the couple’s home in Hung Fuk Estate, Hung Shui Kiu in Yuen Long.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges and are out on bail.
Barrister Priscilla Lam, acting for Chan, tried to challenge X’s credibility by asking why the helper used the word “ginamit” instead of “hinalay” which was the more precise word for “rape” in the message she sent to her friend.
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| The rape allegedly happened in the couple's flat in Hung Fuk Estate, Yuen Long |
However, X said she had used the words interchangeably in her court testimony and in the statement she gave to police.
The defence lawyer showed X and the jurors a set of video clips taken on the morning of Jan 22 while the helper and her ward “Kiki” were leaving their residential block.
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| PRESS FOR DETAILS! |
Lam tried to suggest that X looked relaxed in the video, and did not even hold the child’s hand on the way out. X said she had kept the girl in sight and was in fact worried for her safety that she took her to the school bus first before going to the police station.
X was repeatedly asked why she did not scream while the alleged assault was taking place, or called the police immediately after.
She repeated that she had cried out for help from Lai but she and her husband just laughed at her.
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| Tunghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love |
During the assault, X said Lai had stroked her breast, then helped her husband get an erection so he could penetrate the helper. The rape then happened with Lai lying on the bed beside X, also naked.
After the rape, Chan gave $150 to the helper and told her not to tell anyone. He also allegedly told X he was going to help her wash up, but she shut him out.
X then went to the room she shared with Kiki and sent a series of text messages to her friend Rose.
But before this, Lai sent her a message saying, “You don’t tell other people about things with gentleman” and X replied with “Ok, madam.”
Then Lai reminded X to wake up early the next day to take Kiki to school and she replied with a “thumbs up” emoticon.
When Lam asked X why she kept replying to Lai, the helper said that was when she realized she could use the opportunity to go to the police the next day after taking the child to her school bus.
Lam also asked X about a civil claim for damages that she filed on July 6, 2021 against her former employers, and suggested she was just after their money.
“You wanted to be paid damages,” said the lawyer, to which X said, “I disagree.”
Lam then went on to present the couple’s version of what happened on the night of Jan 21, 2018.
Chan’s story started with him teaching X how to cook pig intestines, then offering her a bite of the dish, to which the helper readily agreed.
Chan then went to the master bedroom and used Lai’s phone to send the message, “Do you like it, sir? I like you.” (X’s version was that Lai had sent her the message, “Do you like sir? Sir likes you.”)
X then allegedly entered the master bedroom and was given a $100 bill by Chan which she put on top of a drawer, then took off her clothes. Chan followed suit and they had sex.
At this time, Lai was said to be in bathroom taking a shower. She came out just in time to see X leaving the master bedroom, naked. Lai scolded both the helper and her husband after realizing what happened.
Chan said he added $50 to the $100 he had offered to X, then gave her all the money for her services.
At different parts of the narration X was asked if she agreed to what was said and she repeatedly answered with “disagree.”
X was told that her cross examination by Lam had ended but she could also be asked questions by Lai’s defense counsel when the trial resumes on Monday.
At today's trial hearing, Consul Paul Saret was in court along with two of his staff at the assistance to nationals section to lend support to X.
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| PADALA NA! |
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