Rawang girl follows boyfriend to Sabah but turned into servant

Monday December 6, 2010
Rawang girl follows boyfriend to Sabah but turned into servant
By MUGUNTAN VANAR
vmugu@thestar.com.my

KOTA KINABALU: A lovestruck teenager from Rawang eloped with her boyfriend to Sabah but quickly realised her mistake when she ended up being his family’s “maid”.

Reality sank in fast for the 16-year-old not long after she left her family and followed her 24-year-old boyfriend back to his hometown – he sold off her handphone and gold ring for money and kept her as a maid in his foster family’s home in Kelombong here since Nov 9.

She had fallen head over heels in love with the man whom she met just a few months ago after they both worked in the same catering company.

The girl fled from her boyfriend’s house recently and lodged a police report at the Menggatal station, seeking help to get back to her family in Selangor.

The girl, who was sweet talked by the man to follow him back to Sabah, left her home with only her clothes on her back and came over to Kota Kinabalu on an AirAsia flight a few days after running away from home.

She is believed to be a school dropout. The young couple decided to elope after the girl’s mother objected to their relationship.

Police have arrested the man and have contacted their counterparts in Rawang where the girl’s mother had lodged a missing persons report almost immediately after her daughter left home.

On Saturday, the police placed the badly-shaken teenager at the Bukit Harapan home pending efforts to take her home as they probed further into possible charges of abduction.

Bukit Harapan housemother Anne Keyworth described the girl as intelligent, adding that she was coping well with her current condition.

“Luckily, she had the sense to go to a police station for help and not just wander around and mix with wrong company,” she said.

She said the girl, who is the eldest of four siblings, missed her family and just wanted to go home.