Body of Filipina household help found in freezer in Kuwait

February 9, 2018

The body of a Filipina household worker has been found in a freezer in Kuwait and authorities have begun searching for her employers to arrest them, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila said Friday.

Raul Dado, executive director of the DFA Office of Migrant Workers Affairs, said an investigation for homicide has been filed with prosecutors of Maidan Hawally in Kuwait against Lebanese Nader Assaf and his Syrian wife, employers of Joanna Daniella Demafelis.

“Kuwait authorities are searching for the couple in Lebanon to arrest them with the help of Interpol,” Dado said.

The body of Demafelis, 30, is presumed to be in the freezer for more than a year since her Lebanese employers left Kuwait in November 2016.

The Philippine embassy, he said,  sent a diplomatic note to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lawyers hired by the Philippines have been briefed on legal action against employers and other involved parties.

“Embassy officials are also meeting police and forensics to get the results of the investigation immediately,” Dado said. “A new meeting with the highest officials of the Kuwait forensics department will be held this weekend.”

The embassy, he added, is in touch with Demafelis’s local recruitment agency - Our Lady of Mt Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc. and her Kuwait recruiter - Fadilah Farz Kaued Al Khodor Recruitment Agency. DMS