KUALA LUMPUR: For a week, an Indonesian domestic helper was "locked up" on the balcony of a condominium unit in Petaling Jaya.
The 21-year-old was only given a pillow and a mattress, and suffered whenever it rained as she was not sheltered from the elements.
Her hellish nightmare ended yesterday, however, when a police team from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Division (Atipsom) of the federal Criminal Investigation Department raided the condominium unit in Mutiara Damansara.
Federal CID assistant director Senior Assistant Commissioner Soffian Santong, who heads the division, said the woman was hired by a local family.
He said, however, instead of giving her a room to live in, they placed her outside, on the balcony.
"The victim was not allowed to leave the balcony, which was locked from the inside, until she received orders to clean the home.
"She would only be allowed in the house between 5am and 11am to clean the home and when that was done, she would be ordered back to the balcony, which would be locked by her employer," he told Harian Metro.
Soffian said the victim had yet to be paid as she was only working for the family for about a week.
"The victim was given food and drinks three times a day, but every day she would be scolded by her employer and locked up."
Soffian said the woman's plight came to light when she managed to write a note pleading for help and tossed it from the balcony.
He said police have arrested a 69-year-old woman believed to be the victim's employer.
"The case is being investigated under Section 12 of the Atipsom Act 2007 and Section 55B of the Immigration Act 1956/63." he said.
