SARAWAK police have sought Interpol’s help in locating a Malaysian woman in connection with a vicious assault that put a Filipina in a Kuching hospital.

Police today said the injuries suffered by Penny Fritz Gutierrez Pido had nothing to do with maid abuse as alleged by Penny’s younger sister and reported online.

“We looking for the suspect with the help of Interpol,” deputy Kuching OCPD Nazron Mohd Yusoff said.

He also clarified that the case was not of maid abuse.

“The victim was not a maid as claimed but was the lover of the suspect’s father.”

Penny, a 39-year-old mother of one, was an overseas Filipino worker.

Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii said on Facebook on May 16 that Penny “suffered severe lacerations to her scalp (50 stitches), a broken ulnar (hand), ‘smashed’ wrist and metacarpal bones(palm) and also a broken leg” in the attack that reportedly took place on May 8.

Yii had visited her in hospital.

Nazron would not go into into the details of police investigations but confirmed the suspect had left the country.

Penny did work as a maid for the suspect’s family from 2015 to 2017, according to her younger sister Jackylin, who is with Penny at the private Borneo Medical Centre.

Jackylin told reporters that the 25-year-old daughter of her sister’s former employer was the one who beat up Penny after she found out from her mother about her father’s affair with her.

Jackylin said her sister left for home in Tondo, Manila, after leaving her job in 2017, but returned to continue working with the family – a British national married to a Malaysian – because of financial problems and she “was asking for money”.

“Her employer said he can give the cash only if she works for him again,” Jackylin said.

Jackylin said in Kuching today she feared for her sister’s safety “because she was threatened”.

She did not say who made the threat or the nature of the threat. Penny has earlier said that the woman who beat her had warned her against going to the police.

Jackylin said the wife of Penny’s former employer visited her at the hospital and asked her to drop the case, but her sister refused.

A pressing problem now facing the Pido sisters is the mounting medical bill.

Jackylin said her sister’s former employer paid RM11,000 as a deposit but the bill has exceeded  RM40,000.

“She can be discharged but the hospital won’t let her go because she still owes the hospital almost RM30,000.”

Jacklin said she is seeking assistance from the Philippines embassy.

She said she gave a copy of the hospital bill to a representative of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur because “the employer refused to pay it”.

Yii, whose Facebook post tipped off an NGO for overseas Filipino workers, had also written, “This is a serious matter. Even if a mistake was made, no one deserves to be beaten up like that. This may even affect diplomatic ties with our neighbouring country if not dealt with properly.

“I’m grateful for the prompt response by the police. I hope the investigation will be carried out transparently and those responsible should be made to face justice.” – May 25, 2019.