The Taipei Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday charged a Taipei couple with abusing their domestic worker.
The husband, surnamed Lee (李), and his wife, surnamed Yang (楊), allegedly abused the Indonesian worker, nicknamed “A-siang,” for about seven months, prosecutors said.
The abuse occurred for an extended period because A-siang was reluctant to alert the authorities, as she had absconded from her previous job, they said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The couple hired A-siang in April last year to work at residences they owned in Tianmu (天母) and Dazhi (大直).
They allegedly started beating her in December, after reportedly being dissatisfied with her work and attitude, the prosecutors said, adding that the alleged abuse continued until A-siang fled.
The alleged beatings were also reported on the Facebook group Baoliao Gongshe (爆料公社) in June, they said.
A medical examination found that A-siang had pierced eardrums, blurred vision and cataracts, eye damage, deformed lips, broken teeth and other injuries to her face and body caused by physical trauma.
A-siang said the couple poured hot water on her, scalded her skin with a garment steamer and blew hot air on her face with a hair dryer, and also kicked her in the groin and the upper thighs.
When she started working for the couple, they took her passport, personal documents, cellphone and some of her cash for “safekeeping,” she said.
They also installed surveillance cameras to monitor her movements and arbitrarily docked her pay, forcing her into debt, she said.
The couple also forced her to eat their pet dog’s feces, A-siang said.
They demanded that she perform better at work, saying that otherwise they would have gangsters beat her family, she said.
She also accused the couple of threatening to kill her by throwing her off the top of the Tianmu high-rise where the couple had an apartment.
Prosecutors said that an investigation found sufficient evidence of physical abuse.
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