Hong Kong domestic worker accuses ex-employer of rape, tells court he threatened to kill her
Hong Kong Free Press
A domestic worker who said she was raped by her employer has told a court that he threatened to kill her if she resisted sex with him.
The domestic worker, known only as X, testified at the High Court on Wednesday on the second day of the jury trial. Her former employer, Patrik Tobias Ekstrom, has been charged with one count of rape and one count of non-consensual buggery over an alleged incident in October 2022.
During the prosecution’s opening, prosecutor Diane Crebbin said X – a domestic worker from Nepal – started working for Ekstrom’s family in April 2021. She lived with the family in Shek O, where she took care of Ekstrom, his wife, and their three children.
Ekstrom, wearing a navy blue suit, appeared in court in person. For privacy reasons, X testified from another room in the building, with her statements televised on monitors in front of the judge, the prosecution and the defence, and the seven-member jury.
Responding to questions from Crebbin, X – speaking Nepalese that was translated to English via an interpreter – said she was throwing out the rubbish late on October 27, 2022, when Ekstrom returned home just before midnight. She said Ekstrom appeared drunk; his eyes were red and he was talking in a manner that was “different.”
Ekstrom’s wife had left for Japan earlier in the day with the couple’s children, X said. Ekstrom then told X he wanted to have a “sexual relationship” with her, to which X said no, and he started shouting.
“He told me he also wanted my daughter. He also said ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll hit you,” X said.
She said she rejected Ekstrom’s advances, and he continued to threaten her while also saying he loved her.
“He hugged me and kept saying ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m very rich, and then he grabbed me,” X said.
She added that Ekstrom offered her HK$6,000, which she understood as payment in exchange for sex.
‘No power’
X said Ekstrom grabbed her by her shoulder and “dragged” her to his bedroom.
“He pushed me to the bedroom. I had no power to run away,” she said, adding that he was bigger than she was.
Inside the bedroom, X said he took off her clothes and forced her have sexual intercourse and anal sex with him. He also tried to make her have oral sex with him, but she was able to push back against that.
The alleged incident in the bedroom lasted around 15 to 20 minutes, X said. She said she told him several times to stop and that this was “totally against [her] will,” but that she “could not really scream” as she was too afraid.
Crebbin asked X several times if she had wanted to have sexual intercourse with Ekstrom, and if she had consented to it. Each time, she said no.
X said that after the incident, she went back to her bedroom and took a shower. “I cried the whole night, I could not sleep,” she said.
She then sent voice messages to Ekstrom’s wife, but did not describe the incident to her as rape as she feared Ekstrom would “follow” her if she did. She told his wife that he had “touched [her] inappropriately.”
X said she left the house at around 7 am the following morning in a taxi, taking her possessions with her, X. The witness said she spoke to Ekstrom’s wife while on the taxi, but did not say what they had talked about.
X said she went to the police station later that day. Ekstrom was summoned to the Wan Chai police station that night, and was arrested when he arrived at around 11pm.
8-day trial
Today marked the second day of Ekstrom’s trial, which is expected to last eight days.
During the first day of the trial on Tuesday, the seven-member jury panel – made up of three men and four women – was selected and the court heard arguments for the admissibility of four voice messages that X sent to Ekstrom’s wife hours after the alleged rape.
On Wednesday, Derek Chan, a senior counsel who is serving as a judge in the case, ruled that the voice messages were admissible. But he said the prosecution would not be allowed to ask X to expand on the contents of the messages.
The prosecution also said it would be calling witnesses including a forensic pathologist who conducted medical examinations of X, including vaginal and anal swabs.
The court was adjourned to Thursday morning, when Crebbin will continue questioning X.
Under Hong Kong law, rape and non-consensual buggery are punishable by up to life imprisonment
| 💡If you are suffering from sexual or domestic violence, regardless of your age or gender, contact the police, Harmony House (click for details) and/or the Social Welfare Department on 28948896. Dial 999 in emergencies. |
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