A 78-year-old woman who scalded her domestic worker with hot water has been sentenced to one year in prison.
There were cries of “I didn’t do it”, “unjust”, and “how could you do this” from defendant Gee Hoo-giok and her friends and family in the courtroom on Monday after the sentence was handed down.
Earlier this month, Gee was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent against 29-year-old Indonesian domestic worker Ismiati. She was also convicted of terminating the contract of an employee during a period of incapacity, HK01 reports.
Ismiati was originally hired in 2017 to be a carer for Gee’s husband who had Parkinson’s disease. However, Ismiati was only officially allowed to work on March 27 that year, just one day after Gee’s husband passed away.
The court heard that Gee blamed Ismiati for her husband’s death and this culminated in the defendant scolding the domestic worker for cooking too slowly.
At the time, she repeated again that she was hired to look after her sick husband and that if only she started working for them earlier, he would still be alive.
It was at this point that Ismiati clapped back saying she couldn’t start work before obtaining a visa, adding that her husband was going to die anyway.
Ismiati continued cooking but suddenly felt hot water splashed onto her back. She fell to the floor and was later taken to hospital. Gee then fired her.
Gee maintained her innocence, with defense lawyers arguing that she was framed by the domestic worker.
In mitigation, defense lawyers urged the court to consider a more lenient sentence for Gee like a community service order.
They cited a report by a clinical psychologist which said there was no strong evidence to suggest a habitual use of violence, and that their client’s chances of reoffending were very low.
The report also said it was hard to determine the intent behind the assault since Gee denied the offense, adding that it was possible that it was an impulsive move as she was still grieving for her husband. It also said Gee needed psychiatric treatment following the incident as she was worried about the case and suffered from depressive tendencies.
The defense also presented 15 letters from friends, family and colleagues, including one from Gee’s daughter’s domestic worker who said she had never seen the defendant being unfriendly towards domestic workers.
Deputy district judge Li Chi-ho said that he accepted scalding was an isolated incident, that the death of a life partner could bring a lot of pain, and that the victim may have said things to provoke the attack.
However, Li said the defendant showed no remorse and that Ismiati was attacked from behind and was not given a chance to defend herself. He said that given the seriousness of the incident, “the court believes imprisonment is the only option.”
Li considered Gee’s age, and reduced the starting point of sentence from 15 months to 12, and she was fined HK$500 for the labor offense.
