Maid rescued from Malaysian tower
Maid makes desperate bid to escape, claiming months of abuse by employer.
However, she said she became stuck on a 12th floor ledge when she froze in terror realising how high up she was.
“She has a bad temper,” Shamelin told Malaysia‘s New Straits Times of her employer.
“If I make a mistake, she will starve me. She has hurt me so many times by beating me.“
Photographs showed a badly bruised Shamelin being driven to a local hospital for treatment.
She was later handed over to the Indonesia embassy with police saying they would be interviewing her employer.
Beatings
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| Shamelin said she had endured months of beatings and starvation [Reuters] |
The case is the latest in a long line of claims of ill-treatment by domestic helpers in Malaysia at the hands of their employers.
Many complain of beatings, including scalding with irons and having boiling water thrown over them, but prosecutions of abusive employers are rare.
Some 380,000 overseas maids are employed in Malaysia, most working long hours for low pay.
Most are also obliged to surrender their passports to their employers or agents as a condition of employment, meaning they cannot easily leave.
According to the Malaysian officials hundreds of maids flee from their employers every month, many claiming ill treatment, but the government has refused to pass legislation on working conditions for domestic helpers.