Hong Kong Woman Jailed For 6 Years For Abusing Indonesian Domestic Worker

A 45-year-old Hong Kong woman was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday for physically abusing an Indonesian woman who worked as a maid in her house, according to media reports. Earlier this month, Law Wan-tung was found guilty of 18 of the 20 charges of abuse filed against her, in a case that caused global outrage after it came to light last year.

Judge Amanda Woodcock reportedly said that Law "showed no compassion" to Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and saw her staff as "people that are beneath her." Sulistyaningsih reportedly had her teeth broken, had scratches all over her body and swelling of the brain, as a result of repeated blows to the head.

The judge also fined Law nearly $1,930 after she was found guilty of failing to pay wages to her staff. She had denied all the abuse charges leveled against her but admitted to a separate charge of not buying insurance for Sulistyaningsih.

"I am so happy because finally my employer is in prison although only for six years. But for me, finally justice is delivered," Sulistyaningsih reportedly said, after the sentencing.

Sulistyaningsih worked for Law for nearly eight months starting in June 2013. The 23-year-old had returned home to Sragen, in the eastern part of Indonesia's Java province, in January 2014 and had to be hospitalized.

Sulistyaningsih’s case came under the spotlight after graphic images of her injuries surfaced, angering Indonesians in Hong Kong, where about 300,000 people from other parts of Asia are employed as domestic workers.