Hong Kong’s top court has dismissed a judicial review of a foreign domestic helper who argued police had failed to properly investigate her complaint against her employer due to the absence of specific legislation against forced labour.
The Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday, in upholding a ruling last year by the Court of Appeal, found that the city’s lack of bespoke legislation for forced labour was not necessary to provide “practical and effective” protection of the Filipino woman’s rights.
The helper, identified as CB, had initially succeeded in a bid for a judicial review, claiming that police inadequately investigated her complaint against her employer, an elderly doctor from Britain, due to the absence of specific legislation against forced labour.
She alleged that the doctor, identified as Z, had repeatedly molested her and coerced her into sexual acts over an eight-month period between September 2018 and April 2019.
But the Court of First Instance’s ruling in 2022 was partially overturned by the Court of Appeal last year, with three judges of the appellate court finding insufficient grounds to conclude that enacting a dedicated offence for forced labour was “the only effective solution” to what CB described as a systemic failure.
A subsequent investigation, ordered by the lower court, also concluded that the helper was not a victim of forced labour.
The doctor was initially jailed for two-and-a-half years on two counts of indecent assault, but the conviction was quashed on appeal, and he was acquitted of all charges in a retrial. The worker also lost a subsequent civil claim against him.
