Maid ‘drank acid to kill herself after being treated like a slave’
Update
Yoyoh Binti Salim Udin lost her tribunal claim after the panel ruled her allegations of abuse were "wicked lies". Read more about the outcome of the case here
A maid tried to commit suicide by drinking caustic acid after her wealthy employers treated her like a slave, paying her as little as £5 a day and forcing her to sleep on the floor, an employment tribunal heard.
Indonesian Yoyoh Binti Salim Udin often worked more than 16 hours a day at the couple's West End flat and was not allowed out alone.
The final straw came when she was strip searched after being accused of stealing some earrings and then locked in the flat.
Ms Udin, 39, said in a witness statement to the Central London Employment tribunal: "I bring my claim because of my working conditions and pay and because in what became the last days of my employment, I was wrongly accused of theft, locked into their house and strip searched.
"Because I felt wrongly accused, unable to demonstrate my innocence and trapped, I swallowed some caustic acid." It destroyed her ability to swallow. Ms Udin is suing her employer Lina Chamsi Pasha and her husband Firas, claiming race discrimination, constructive dismissal, unpaid wages and compensation for a breach of employment rights, including rights in relation to working time.
Born in West Java, Ms Udin came to London to work in the Pashas' five-bedroom Portland Place flat in the autumn of 2004.
Mrs Pasha, who she referred to as "Madam", gave her three uniforms. Ms Udin said: "They were all second hand and I felt sad to be given these old clothes. I felt like a beggar."
She was also given her own cup and plastic bowl to wash her clothes in. "I was told to use these things and not to share the family's items."
After continually denying accusations of theft, Ms Udin alleges in February last year Mrs Pasha strip searched her.Ms Udin went on to drink the bottle of caustic soda used for clearing drains.
The Pashas deny her claims, describing them as a "vile lie". In cross-examination, Jonathan Goldberg QC, for the couple, suggested to Ms Udin, she had not been treated like a slave and was bought luxuries such as body lotions by her employer. He said: "This is not really the way of treating a slave is it?"
The tribunal case continues.
