In late November 2023, two Canadians assaulted and detained a domestic worker for an hour and a half in an apartment rented through Airbnb in El Poblado, Medellín. Despite the immediate complaint and the evidence presented, the case has not progressed significantly.

The incident occurred at approximately 7pm on Thursday 23 November 2023. The employee, who had been in charge of the weekly cleaning of the property for over a month, was accused by the two men, identified as Raymond Arthur Jr. Cornish, a 34-year-old African-Canadian, and Raymond Truong, 29, of Asian descent, of stealing money and a ring from them. The situation quickly escalated from verbal accusations to physical assaults and detention in a room in the apartment.

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According to what the victim told the media, the Canadians hit her on the head with a cell phone, dragged her by the hair and took her shirt, wallet and cell phone, demanding the return of the supposedly stolen ring. “They told me, 'You, come!' They entered the room he was in and locked it. My heart stopped there. They started yelling, 'You stole my money, you stole my ring' and I asked them what ring, what money. “They kept saying there was a ring there and demanded that I give them my bag,” the woman said. The armadilloan independent media.

During the attack, she was suffocated with a pillowcase and beaten several times. At the end of the attack, the aforementioned attackers left the scene taking their belongings: “One of them covered my mouth and put a pillowcase over me. They burst my mouth with the force with which they put the lid on and I started vomiting. One of them, the darkest one, hit me in the ribs, in the stomach, he hit me with his fists and I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore.”

Later, the victim said that this was not the first incident with the guests, who had previously accused her of theft without proof. The apartment manager, quoted by the same media, reviewed the security cameras and confirmed that in addition to the complainant, other people had also entered the apartment: “These men would enter between two and three women every week,” he said.

Despite the complaints filed with the Attorney General's Office and Migration Colombia, as well as the intervention of the Women's Secretariat of Medellin, six months after the violent event, the case has not presented concrete progress in protection and justice for the victim and even since then she has not had contact with the entities.

In fact, the worker says the authorities failed to provide the protection she requested, leaving her vulnerable to future attacks. According to The armadillowho had access to the medical report, The victim was confirmed to have bruises to the chest, trauma to the mouth and blows to the head.

The episode became a hot topic on social media and was shared by real estate agencies who warned of the danger of the attackers: “Be careful, these guys hit a cleaning lady and sent her to the hospital,” the message said. However, a letter from the lawyer for foreigners demanded the removal of the publications because, according to him, they were information without evidence: “You are not authorized and you are publishing private and sensitive information without having any proof of your statements,” he said. reads.

Airbnb, in response to the incident, reimbursed the apartment owner $1,220 for property damage and banned the account used for the reservation. The assaulted woman, despite her fear, continues to do the same job, but fearing that she will meet the foreign attackers again and that something will happen to her or her family, she continues to wait for justice to be done by the authorities; He says, however, that “justice is like that here, very slow.”