By Eunice del Rosario
Published: 31st August 2006
A BAHRAINI arrested for allegedly raping his brother’s Filipina maid will not stand trial after the woman agreed to a BD500 out-of-court settlement. Gemma Gorres, who was reportedly handed the money on Monday in the presence of Philippine Embassy officials, left for the Philippines on a flight to Manila at 10pm last night.
Sources told the GDN that the alleged rapist and his family had pleaded with embassy officials to reduce the maid’s asking price of BD2,000, stating that they could not afford that amount.
“In the end (the maid) just wanted to return home to her child in Davao, Southern Philippines, so she accepted the BD500, which is equivalent to about eight months’ salary,” sources told the GDN.
By Eunice del Rosario
Published: 31st August 2006
A BAHRAINI arrested for allegedly raping his brother’s Filipina maid will not stand trial after the woman agreed to a BD500 out-of-court settlement. Gemma Gorres, who was reportedly handed the money on Monday in the presence of Philippine Embassy officials, left for the Philippines on a flight to Manila at 10pm last night.
Sources told the GDN that the alleged rapist and his family had pleaded with embassy officials to reduce the maid’s asking price of BD2,000, stating that they could not afford that amount.
“In the end (the maid) just wanted to return home to her child in Davao, Southern Philippines, so she accepted the BD500, which is equivalent to about eight months’ salary,” sources told the GDN.
The accused and his Bahraini wife reportedly also urged the maid to drop the rape case she filed at the Public Prosecution after he told police he had sex with her on two occasions with mutual consent.
Ms Gorres, aged 32, denied that she agreed to have consensual sex with the man, but that she accepted the BD500 settlement so that she could leave Bahrain as soon as possible.
“I’ve been hurt and abused enough, I just need to get home,” she told the GDN yesterday.
The case at the Public Prosecution has been dropped following Monday’s out-of-court settlement.
Ms Gorres said the man, her employer’s brother, raped her twice on July 11 in her room as his children played in the yard in a villa, in Sanabis.
The man was arrested on the evening of July 12 after embassy officials were notified.
She provided evidence at the Sanabis Police Station on the same night, including some of the man’s hair and a stained T-shirt.
But he was released on BD100 bail after spending just 24 hours in jail. Ms Gorres’ employer, his wife and their five children were on their annual holiday in the UK at the time.
Ms Gorres, a former hospital supervisor in Butuan City, came to Bahrain in April to ensure a good future for her one-year-old son, who is being cared for by her parents.
She previously lived in Kuwait with her Egyptian husband, but they divorced nearly two years ago.
An embassy spokesman yesterday confirmed that Ms Gorres was on her way home to Davao City, Mindanao.
She was due to be met by Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officials in Manila today and helped to take a connecting flight to Mindanao.
© Gulf Daily News
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