ILOILO City – The employer of slain overseas Ilongga domestic helper Joanna Demafelis of Sara, Iloilo has been charged with murder in Lebanon and could be facing the death penalty.
Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency (NNA) reported that 40-year-old Nader Essam Assaf confessed to the crime and was charged on Tuesday in that Middle Eastern country after he was deported there from Syria.
According to the NNA, prosecutors in Lebanon were pressing for death as penalty for Assaf, whose trial would commence soon. No specific date was given.
It was previously reported that Assaf’s Syrian wife Mona Hassoun was also arrested in Syria but the NNA reported that she remained at large. Other reports from the Middle East claimed she was being detained by Syrian authorities.
The news on Assaf’s murder case came as Demafelis’ parents were preparing to participate in the traditional Maundy Thursday “washing of the feet” rite in the Roman Catholic Church’s observance of Holy Week.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will wash the feet of Crisanto and Eva Demafelis at the Manila Cathedral (5 p.m., March 29) as representatives of migrants and on behalf of their daughter.
In a statement, the Manila Cathedral noted that the Demafelis couple’s experience was “a witness to the plight of our fellow Filipinos working abroad who, despite the presence of danger, risk their safety to give their families in the Philippines a decent life.”
Joanna’s body was found stuffed in a freezer in Kuwait early last month, Feb. 6. But the murder was believed to have occurred in late 2016, with Assaf and his Syrian wife fleeing their apartment in Kuwait shortly after.
The Demafelis family of Sitio Cordero, Barangay Ferraris, Sara, Iloilo has been demanding justice for their 29-year-old daughter from both the Kuwaiti and Philippine governments.
Officers from Interpol were involved in the arrest of Assaf in Syria late last month prior to him being sent back to Lebanon, his homeland.
As an offshoot of Demafelis’ killing, Kuwait and the Philippines have been negotiating a new labor agreement to ensure that overseas Filipino workers in the oil-rich Gulf state are properly protected.
Over a quarter of a million Filipinos work in Kuwait.
The employers of Joanna should also suffer what she went through, according to grieving mother Eva.
Autopsy showed Joanna suffered from repeated beatings.
“I can’t accept what happened to my daughter. This is too painful,” said Eva.
Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said Joanna had several broken ribs and contusion and trauma in the pelvis and kidney area. She has also suffered from internal bleeding due to the beatings.
Joanna’s last contact with her family was in May 2016. She told them she wanted to extend her stay in Kuwait.
Then 26 years old, she left the country for Kuwait in May 18, 2014 six months after super typhoon “Yolanda” struck.
She wanted to rebuild their house that “Yolanda” destroyed, according to Eva.
Her daughter also dreamed of putting up a sari-sari store.
“She did not want me to work in the rice field anymore,” said Eva, a farmhand./PN
