Yohana Sau-Banunaek, mother of Adelina Lisao – a domestic worker allegedly abused to death by her employer in Penang last year – is demanding to know why the employer has walked free.
Yohana’s plight and her family’s disappointment were reported by local Kupang television station TVRI Nusa Tenggara Timur in Indonesia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLMjSSrhpGc
The report is also available on YouTube.
In another video uploaded on Friday, she said she felt regret as a mother who has put “great effort and pain” to give birth to Adelina when she heard news that the employer had been freed.
“She (Adelina) left for a life that could support us at home.
“I can’t accept this. Adelina’s family also doesn’t accept this. Why was her employer freed?” Yohana said, speaking in her native language.
Adelina died at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital in February last year after she allegedly suffered physical and emotional abuse while she served illegally as a domestic worker.
Her living condition was exposed by neighbours, who saw her sleeping outside with the family dog.
They then alerted the office of Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim, whose aides lodged a police report.
Her employer MAS Ambika was then arrested and charged with murder but she was freed of the charge last month after the prosecution decided not to pursue the case.
Yohana said the employer should be sent to Kupang, in East Nusa Tenggara, where Adelina’s family could meet her.
My child died not because she was sick, but because she was tortured. She slept with a dog, ate with a dog, she said while trying to hold back tears.
Yohana repeatedly asked Malaysia how Ambika could be freed and what had happened that the murder charge was dropped.
She said all Adelina’s family wanted is for the employer to be tried fairly in court, in accordance with Malaysian law.
She also asked the government, non-governmental organisations and religious leaders such as those in the Evangelical Church of Timor to help her family seek justice for Adelina.
It was recently reported that the Attorney-General’s Chambers is investigating why the charge against Ambika was dropped. – TMI