Probe of maid’s death in Hong Kong sought

ROXAS CITY, Philippines—The family of a Capiceña domestic helper, who allegedly killed herself in Hong Kong, is asking the Philippine National Police, to investigate her death.

They asked the PNP’s Scene of the Crime Operative in Iloilo City to autopsy the body of 29-year-old Cherry Mae Genova to determine if there was foul play.

Lorna Genova said there might be foul play in her daughter’s death because of severe injuries on Cherry Mae”s hands and toes that indicated she might have been tortured.

Her body arrived at the Roxas City Airport on March 15. Her family first brought her to a funeral home to open the sealed casket before she was brought home to Barangay (village) Duran, Dumalag, Capiz.

The Genovas learned about her death through the recruitment agency that brought Cherry Mae to Hong Kong four years ago to work as a domestic helper.

The report said Cherry Mae was holding a Bible when she jumped to her death from the 12th floor of a residential building in Mid-Levels on March 2.

Police and paramedics arrived after receiving a call that a Filipina was found lying on 19 Bonham Road at Western District after falling from the building.

The Hong Kong police declared the case as suicide as no foul play was detected.

According to Cherry Mae’s employer, the domestic helper had joined a religious group in Hong Kong, and had been reading the Bible and going to church every day, the Hong Kong police report said.

But her family didn’t believe that Cherry Mae, the eldest of four siblings, committed suicide because she was scheduled to go home in May to attend the blessing of their house and the village’s annual fiesta celebration.

It would have been her first vacation since she left for Hong Kong four years ago.