Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong loses P7.9 million sexual assault claim vs. employer
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of rape and sexual assault.
A Filipino domestic helper lost a HK$1.06 million (P7.9 million) claim against her former employer for alleged sexual assault in Hong Kong.
The South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong's District Court ruled on Tuesday, July 23 that her allegations were “bursting with inherent improbabilities."
It found that her “improbable, unimaginable, and illogical” assertions outweighed the "inconsistent and self-contradictory account" of the defendant, retired doctor Brian Drew Apthorp.
The events spanned eight months, from 2018 to 2019.
In September 2018, the worker, who was 40 at the time, testified to being assaulted under the guise of a medical checkup. She accused Apthorp of removing her clothes and molesting her. According to her, he allegedly asked her to give him daily massages, during which he would lie naked and masturbate.
She also accused the doctor of making her whip him every week for sexual pleasure and asking her to watch a sex video involving him and two of his previous helpers.
Deputy Judge David Chan said there were manifold discrepancies in her sworn statements made in court, including criminal trials in 2020 and 2022 which ended in Apthorp’s acquittal.
Chan noted key details left out of the helper's written statements, like whether Apthorp indeed touched the helper's breasts and whether he was wearing gloves to supposedly inspected her genitals. Chan also doubted how Apthorp, who was 80 at the time, would engage in sexual activities on almost a daily basis.
The judge said he was "dumbfounded" by the helper's willingness to sign the employment contract six days after the alleged assault during the medical checkup, without protest. He noted the helper's supposed risk of being further exploited or even raped in the future.
Chan pointed out that the helper signed the contract without knowing her pay and other essential terms. He also found it "inexplicable" that the helper didn't tell her friends, church, or boyfriend about the alleged attacks when she returned to the Philippines.
“Considering the plaintiff’s experiences working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong prior to her employment with the defendant, her working experiences abroad, and her educational background," Chan said, "I do not believe that she would be so innocent, naive, and helpless, to not know her rights, or that she was sexually abused by the defendant, if what she said were true.”
Chan also found Apthorp’s account unconvincing, saying the helper had provided inconsistent explanations regarding the procedure he did during the body check on her.
He said Apthorp also contradicted himself by denying the use of sexual instruments for self-gratification—despite confessing in court that he took a video of himself being whipped by two former helpers.
He likewise found it ludicrous for Apthorp to deny asking the helper to watch pornography with him, claiming she had once brought him sex videos from the Philippines.
Apthorp was previously jailed for 30 months on two counts of indecent assault, but his convictions were dropped upon a successful appeal. In 2022, a retrial ended in acquittal on all charges.