Saudi Employer drives 24 heated nails into maid.

[Flavus Aquila]

Doctors remove nails driven into maid

August 29, 2010

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan maid recovering from surgery to remove 19 nails from her body told doctors her Saudi employer had heated the nails before hammering them into her body.
Surgeons at Sri Lanka's southern Kamburupitiya hospital carried out a three-hour operation to remove a needle and 19 of the 24 nails stuck in her arms, legs and forehead.
Hospital director Prabath Gajadeera said the 49-year-old woman, L.T. Ariyawathi, told them her employer inflicted the injuries as punishment for her difficulties in communicating with the household.
''She said her employer heated the nails and then hammered them into her body,'' Mr Gajadeera said.
''The nails were in her arms, legs and forehead.''
He said the woman, who had gone to Saudi Arabia to work as a housemaid, could not have driven the nails in herself.
''In some places it is clear that someone else had to drive the nails,'' he said.
''We will in any case refer her to a psychiatrist for analysis before discharging her from hospital.''
She was admitted to hospital on Friday after she returned home complaining she was in great pain and unable to walk.
Surgeons at the hospital, 160 kilometres south of Colombo, removed 13 big nails, each about five centimetres long, and six smaller ones, Mr Gajadeera said.
He said the remaining nails were not removed immediately because the procedure might have resulted in serious nerve damage.
The woman, who travelled to Saudi Arabia in March, was deeply traumatised and unable to give full details of her experience initially, but was fast recovering, the doctor said.
''We will discharge her in about three days,'' he said.
Sri Lankan police have begun an investigation.
Officials said Sri Lanka was expected to take up the case of the housemaid with Saudi authorities shortly.
About 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70 per cent are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East while smaller numbers work in Singapore and Hong Kong, seeking higher salaries than they would get at home.
Non-governmental organisations report frequent cases of employer abuse of maids who work abroad.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/doctors-remove-nails-driven-into-maid-20100828-13x0z.html?autostart=1

I just go angrily numb when I read about this kind of cold cruelty. Why is it immigrant workers often seem to be so mistreated in their host countries?

(I must qualify this - by saying I was a foreign worker in the U.S. for a few years, but the 'cruelty to foreign' workers does not seem to apply if you are Australian - but I often noticed a deep disdain for Mexican workers in the U.S. - I just shiver to think how foreign workers are treated in some Middle-Eastern countries)

 

[TinyBubbles]

Oh my god.

 

[Odyne]

I couldn't finish reading that...that's just pure cruelty.

The things that humans do to each other. *sigh*

 

[arbygil]

Dear God, that's horrific...

And I don't even have more words to say. I hope she gets justice, I really do.

 

[TinyBubbles]

did anyone else squirm when reading the description? god damn, people can be heartless T_T

 

[freybell]

how could anyone possibly think that someone could do that to themselves?

this is awful

 

[arbygil]

did anyone else squirm when reading the description? god damn, people can be heartless T_T

I think you'd have to be heartless not to. I mean you can only imagine where all those nails went, and you can only imagine what kind of hammer (or electric hammer, or nail gun) he used. And how LONG it would have taken...

 

[TinyBubbles]

I think you'd have to be heartless not to. I mean you can only imagine where all those nails went, and you can only imagine what kind of hammer (or electric hammer, or nail gun) he used. And how LONG it would have taken...

oh shhh >< i don't want to hear any more poor lady!

 

[Flavus Aquila]

What makes me the most exasperated and angry is that the likelihood of her employer ever getting in any trouble is very, very low.


Where is the A-team when you need it?

 

[TheLastMohican]

I would think some other people were needed to hold her down.

 

[arbygil]

I would think some other people were needed to hold her down.

Or she was drugged.

 

[Odyne]

Or she was drugged.

For every single nail? *shudders*

The psychological damage she has would mostly occur if she was awake enough to experience the pain.

What kills me is her age. She's almost 50 years old, for heaven's sake!

 

[TheLastMohican]

Or she was drugged.

I hope she was. I imagine the process would have been much more painful than the aftermath. The good thing about the nails being hot was that they probably cauterized the wounds to some extent. (Otherwise she probably would have bled to death.)

 

[arbygil]

For every single nail? *shudders*

The psychological damage she has would mostly occur if she was awake enough to experience the pain.

What kills me is her age. She's almost 50 years old, for heaven's sake!

No, I mean he might've knocked her out and did it, or gave her a strong sedative. Certain drugs can put you out for a few hours. The really, really bad drugs can paralyze you, but you still know exactly what's going on.

Either way, though, it's horrible, and I think this is death penalty worthy.

 

[stopharian]

If he did this to the maid, God knows he probably has a whole house full of people that hes been abusing for years.

 

[Barnabas]

Death penalty is to good for him, put him in prison with the general population for life, no shot at parole.

 

[894tt3h9]

I didn't feel anything when I read this. I think my mind kind of filtered all the gruesome details out. I don't even want to think about what that must have felt like.

 

[TinyBubbles]

I didn't feel anything when I read this. I think my mind kind of filtered all the gruesome details out. I don't even want to think about what that must have felt like.

i envy you. i wish i could do that. too many details make it too vivid to me... i can't stand it. a part of me wishes such things just didn't happen, but that's not exactly going to help the woman attain justice, is it? nor help the next person in her unfortunate position :/

 

[Feelings]

Yeah I have a numbing filter thing going on too. Empathy's a bitch if you're empathizing over something very painful.

 

[894tt3h9]

i envy you. i wish i could do that. too many details make it too vivid to me... i can't stand it. a part of me wishes such things just didn't happen, but that's not exactly going to help the woman attain justice, is it? nor help the next person in her unfortunate position :/

Yeah it comes in handy. Even when I re-read it I feel nothing. It doesn't gross me out or disgust me, it just... is. Now, if I were to imagine something like that happening to my own mother, I think it would make sick inside.

What bothers me about this story is not knowing how it happened. How is it that this man was able to get 19 nails into this woman? I wonder, did she fight back? Was she able to? Was she restrained? I feel like without the missing piece, my brain just doesn't want to process it, because the possibilities are just endless.