Skip to main content

Lankan maid saved from deportation

A Sri Lankan maid who last week faced deportation has received a one-year work permit to stay in Cyprus from immigration authorities.

Priyanka Dona, who was left unemployed and homeless after a serious workplace accident in 2010 was released from Phinikoudes police station in Larnaca on Friday, where she spent 44 days awaiting a decision.

Dona will now spend the next year living with and employed by the Stylianou family in Lefkara, who have supported her through the difficult months since her accident.

An elated Dona told the Cyprus Mail yesterday: “I am so happy to be out. I could not believe it when I heard (I could stay)”

Her close friend and new employer Chris Stylianou said: “Priyanka was released on Friday and has been given a permit to work here for one year. She will be staying with us and will be employed by the family.”

However, Stylianou said Dona was only nominally an employee, since her injured leg prevented her from working.

“(On Thursday) she was given a contract, but she cannot work very much because her leg is in plaster... It is more as a favour, because it is the only way that we could help her to stay,” Stylianou said.

Asked about her leg, Dona said: “I want my leg to recover so I can work properly. It is still very painful and I really don’t know when it will be better.”

Dona’s ordeal began in January 2010 when a steam cooker in the kitchen of former employer Chrystalla Iacovides exploded, injuring both Dona and Iacovides.

A month after the accident, a relative of Iacovides, according to Chris Stylianou, evicted her, leaving her unemployed, homeless and in need of medical treatment.

By September 2010, Dona’s leg had became so swollen and painful from the accident that she required surgery at Larnaca General Hospital.

With Dona’s insurance lapsing prior to the accident, Iacovides’ relative reportedly paid for the €1,800 operation to place steel plates in her ankle, but has since offered little assistance.

According to Dona’s lawyer, Yiannis Erotokritou, the relative might even have sought to repatriate her to avoid Dona filing two lawsuits, against Iacovides and a cook from Kato Lefkara who was reportedly manning the steam cooker when the accident happened.

With her former employers reportedly turning their backs on Dona, the Stylianous and Lefkara community members rallied to her aid, helping with groceries and offering her a house to live.

Dona will now pack up her belongings and, in the coming days, move in with the Stylianou family. (Cyprus Mail)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

STUDENTS SURROUND ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING AT J’PURA

A tense situation has broken out at the Jayawardenapura University after a group of students surrounded an administrative building. The students have reportedly surrounded Vice Chancellor N.L.A. Karunaratna ’ s office building following an announcement that he will not be issuing Mahapola scholarships.
Post a Comment
Read more

Ukrainians injured as police dismantle Kiev 'tent city'

At least 10 demonstrators have been injured in clashes with Ukrainian police and another 100 detained in the capital Kiev after authorities began dismantling a makeshift "tent city" protesting against corruption. The tent city was set up in October by supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia who has become an opposition politician in Ukraine. Saakashvili, a critic of corruption in Ukraine, was deported to Poland in February. He said he was "kidnapped" by Ukrainian authorities and removed from the country against his will. Andriy Kryshchneko, police chief of police, said at the camp on Saturday that "two court decisions" allowed authorities to search and dismantle the camp. Police said that explosives and other weapons were found at the scene
Post a Comment
Read more

Last year's iPhones are destroying Samsung's new Galaxy S9 flagship smartphone - Bench Mark Results

Samsung announced the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, the latest entries in its flagship line of smartphones, at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress — but benchmark results are awkwardly showing the devices scoring significantly lower than many of their competitors. Benchmarks are synthetic tests that give numeric, quantifiable results. They are generally applications programmed to make the devices' systems-on-a-chip (SoC) run a series of tasks and determine how long it takes them to complete. AnandTech is a site that specialises in running rigorous tests like these, and its early findings on Samsung's latest devices are curious to say the least— particularly compared to the latest iPhones, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 — which will power most of the Android flagships this year — and even Samsung's own Galaxy S8 from last year. In a number of tests — such as web browsing, writing, data manipulation, and photo editing — the Galaxy S9's Exynos 9810 consistently deliv...
Post a Comment
Read more