Employer who abused domestic worker Erwiana declared bankrupt

The employer who abused Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih has been declared bankrupt.

Master Reuden Lai Tat-cheung issued the bankruptcy order against Law Wan-tung at the High Court on Monday.

Law was in 2015 sentenced to six years in jail and a fine of HK$15,000 after she was convicted of 18 charges, including assault and criminal intimidation. 

Between May 2013 and January 2014, Law inserted the metal tube of a vacuum cleaner into Sulistyaningsih's mouth, stripped her clothes to spray her with cold water and made her stand in front of a fan in winter.

Sulistyaningsih suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after the assaults. 

Her abuse case drew worldwide attention to the working condition of domestic helpers in Hong Kong.

Law was ordered to pay HK$809,430 to Sulistyaningsih by the District Court in 2017 in compensation for making her suffer "inhumane, degrading and abhorrent" treatment.

The housewife was later ordered to pay Tutik, another Indonesian domestic helper she employed before, HK$170,000 for assault and false imprisonment, as well as HK$200,000 in legal costs.

She was given early release in 2018 after less than four years behind bars, drawing criticism from local domestic helper groups.