TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A mother of two in Hong Kong, who assaulted her Indonesian maid with a mop and threatened to kill her relatives has been sentenced to six years in prison, hence giving some closure to a case which has sparked mass outrage and exposed the horrible treatment experienced by millions of Indonesian maids across Asia.
The 44-year old former beautician Law Wan-tung seem unmoved when she was sentenced for 18 out of 20 assault charges. On top of the sentence, she was also ordered to pay 15,000 Hong Kong Dollars in fines - equivalent to Rp25 million.
The charges brought against Law include inflicting physical damages and criminal intimidation on Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and another Indonesian maid.
The defendant had initially pleaded not guilty, but admits that she failed to provide insurance for Erwiana, who has said to the media that she is ready to forgive her former employer and her family.
The brutal torture inflicted on Erwiana has caused a mass uproar in Hong Kong to reform its' policies on the protection on the rights of migrant workers.
Erwiana arrived in Hong Kong in 2013, and she arrived back in Indonesia in January 2014. The result of a doctor's examination concluded that she suffered from burns as a result of being scalded by boiling water.
Pictures of Erwiana which has been posted online has also sparked a mass outrage in Indonesia, when then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, described Law's action as torture.
ANTARANEWS