A retired Hong Kong civil servant who poured boiling hot water on her Bangladeshi maid has been spared a prison sentence, after a judge accepted her claim that she lost her temper.

Despite calling her crime “barbaric” and admitting it will hurt the reputation of Hong Kong’s treatment of domestic helpers (because that’s at an all-time high, of course) the district judge said 62-year-old Au Wai-chun was unlikely to offend again.

A sentence of six months imprisonment was overturned in favour of 18 months probation.

According to a report by EjInsight.com, 27-year-old Raksona Begum was hospitalised for five days after receiving first and second-degree burns at the hands of her employer.

Begum told the court that Au grabbed her by the collar and poured hot water down her back after complaining that the cup of water she had just received wasn’t hot enough. Apparently it was.

Begum managed to contact the police with the help of passersby.

Au’s case may have benefitted from the fact that her current Filipino maid wrote to the court to plead for leniency.

Let’s hope she doesn’t live to regret that decision!

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Related stories:

Bangladeshi maid testifies that her boss, former civil servant, poured hot water on her

Hong Kong-born and raised son of Filipino domestic worker denied permanent residency

Myanmar bans women from working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong due to abuse concerns

Hong Kong’s Hidden Shame: Why is foreign domestic worker abuse so rampant?

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Photo: Pixabay

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