Maid jailed in Hong Kong for giving employer cup of urine to drink

Jul 25, 2007, 2:51 GMT

Hong Kong - An Indonesian maid who gave her employer a cup of water containing urine to drink after receiving a warning letter has been jailed, a news report said Wednesday.

The female employer of the 29-year-old maid, called Manik, became suspicious of the smell when she was asked for a glass of water from her on May 4, the South China Morning Post reported.

She refused to drink it, insisting instead that her maid taste it in front of her. She then kept a sample which she sent to have tested in a laboratory, the newspaper said.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Manik admitted a charge of administering a poison or noxious substance with intent to injure her Chinese employer and was jailed for six days.

Manik told the court through her lawyer that she used the urine to treat a skin condition and had accidentally splashed some into the cup she was using to give her employer some drinking water.

According to the newspaper, her lawyer Michael Vidler told the court: 'It is a traditional remedy (for skin ailments) in her home country.'

Manik was hired by her employer in February and had previously been issued with a warning letter, the court hearing was told.

Hong Kong is home to more than 200,000 live-in domestic helpers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand who do household and child care duties for a government-set minimum wage of around 420 US dollars a week.