A Filipina domestic worker and her employer both pleaded not guilty in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on November 7 to illegal employment. Filipina Johara MC pleaded not guilty to a breach of her conditions of stay after she was caught working illegally at an unlicensed guesthouse in Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island, hongkongnews.com.hk reported.
Her employer, CK Kwong, pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting a breach of the conditions of stay and keeping a guesthouse without a certificate of exemption or license.
The court heard that a government undercover inspector booked a bed at the illegal guesthouse inside the Tai Fung Building in Quarry Bay from January 17 to 19 this year and was informed it would cost him HK$309 (US$39).
On January 17, Johara allegedly met the inspector at the Quarry Bay MTR Station and took him to the guesthouse where he saw two rooms, a “big living room” and a bathroom, upon his arrival.
There were bunk beds that were numbered. Kwong was in the guesthouse. Johara told the inspector that bed No. 12 was his.
When the inspector asked Johara how much the rent was, the Filipina told him it was HK$324 for three nights.
After giving the domestic worker the rent, the inspector called his colleagues and the guesthouse was raided. The trial continues on Friday.