‘Pot of gold’ dream ends for maid

Woman alleges she was pushed from second floor of house:

Ends up with fractured legs, spine:

Kumarasiri Prasad airport cor

Nandawathie Podimenike

A Sri Lankan housemaid who returned from Jordan with dashed hopes after seeking the Middle East pot of gold, said yesterday she had ended with fractured legs and a spine because a 26-year-old man at the household she was employed, lashed her with a belt and pushed her from the second floor of the house as a punishment for complaining to the Sri Lankan embassy about ill - treatment meted out by the household.

Interviewed at the Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday on her abrupt return to Sri Lanka, Nandawathie Podimenike of Eppawala said she went to Jordan for employment on September 11 last year.

The household where she worked as a housemaid entrusted her heavy unending chores which she could hardly cope with and even denied her proper food.

Unable to bear the tormentation, she ran away from the house after a year and sought refuge in the Sri Lankan embassy in Jordan.

Podimenike said thereafter the owners of the house came to the embassy seeking to take her back followed by the representatives of her agency but she refused to go back.

Thereafter, the Jordan Police arrived at the embassy and they handed her over to the Police. The Policemen who took her back in a jeep, hit her on the head inside the vehicle and handed her over to the same household.

She said on her return to the workplace, a 26-year-old man who was a member of the household, took her to task for complaining to the embassy officials. The man lashed her with a belt and pushed her out of the window of the second floor and she fell on the ground ending up with broken legs and a spine.

She said the mistress of the household was employed as a nurse in a police hospital in Jordan. She said the mistress admitted her to the same hospital and she was treated for 16 days. Podimenike who was in tears said she would not have suffered this ordeal if the embassy refused to hand her back to the employers.