By Roy C. Mabasa
The Filipino household service worker found inside a freezer in an apartment in Kuwait earlier this month died due to severe beating.
Citing autopsy report, Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said Joanna Daniela Demafelis had several broken ribs and contusion and trauma in the pelvis and kidney area. She also suffered from internal bleeding. Several wounds were also found on Demafelis’ body.
The autopsy also showed that Demafelis was already dead when she was put inside the freezer.
Based on initial investigation, the body of Demafelis was kept in a freezer for more than a year and was only discovered when police entered the apartment in Maidan Hawally after a court order was issued for the owner of the residence to vacate the premises as part of the procedures to re-possess.
The apartment has been vacant since November 2016 when its tenants, a Lebanese and his Syrian wife, left Kuwait. The door remained locked ever since.
The suspects were identified as Lebanese Nader Issam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun, employers of Demafelis.
Officers tasked to investigate the case disclosed that Assaf and Hassoun are in Syria.
According to reports, the couple and their two children left Kuwait in November 2016, while the body of Demafelis was discovered recently when the owner of the apartment obtained permission from the court to enter the apartment.
