A homesick foreign maid who fainted and had to be rescued from a street in Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan drew police attention on Sunday after she claimed – falsely – that her employer had taken indecent photos of her.
The Indonesian woman named Ika, 49, was hired by a 57-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Li 10 months ago to take care of his elderly mother, who lived in Xiaogang district in Kaohsiung but had difficulty walking, The Liberty Times reported.
On April 15, Ika the maid fainted in a street in Fongshan district. Paramedics rushed to the scene and found her regaining consciousness, but she was distracted and refused to go to hospital for a further check-up.
She then referred to the National Immigration Agency and wrote a note to the officers in Chinese characters, saying she did not want to go home and the words “indecent photos”.
Police from Siaogang district were alerted to the case, and her employer Li was asked to assist their investigation.
A few days before she collapsed, the maid was emotionally distressed because she missed home so much. Li had wanted to take her to a doctor as he suspected Ika was suffering from depression. Police had already learned of her fainting in the street and the maid did not report any abuse by the man.
The maid then learnt that Li had agreed to terminate her contract and scheduled her to fly back to Indonesia.
That led to Ika overturning her previous statement and explaining to police that her accusation about Li taking “indecent photos” of her stemmed from her hope that police would intervene and provide an excuse for her to be able to return home quickly.