African man jailed for raping Filipina helper in HK

An African construction worker was sentenced to jail for raping a 32-year-old Filipina domestic helper in Hong Kong.

South China Morning Post reported that Kokou Afla Apelete, 37, was ordered by Hong Kong’s High Court to serve a nine-year jail term and pay HK$48,120 (P307,990) to the Filipino maid. The incident took place on August 25, 2015, when Apelete took advantage of the victim’s innocence and raped her while his wife, a Hong Kong resident, was out of the house.

Prior to the incident, Apelete had been begging the Filipina to be his mistress, but she rejected him thrice. After the assault, the Filipina, whose identity was concealed, suffered depression attacks and got “easily scared” whenever a male stranger walked near her.

Moreover, the victim had to undergo an injection for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) after she got worried about acquiring the sexually transmitted disease from Apelete.

The victim, now back in the Philippines, resigned from her local job as saleslady  to be able to testify in Hong Kong. Despite being the family’s sole breadwinner, she never returned to Hong Kong to work due to trauma and anxiety bouts.  Gianna Francesca Catolico /ra