‘Tortured’ maid to undergo surgery

COLOMBO – A Sri Lankan housemaid with nails embedded in her body is to undergo surgery, her doctors said.L.P. Ariyawathie, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia inflicted the injuries as a punishment, according to medics at Kamburupitiya Hospital, Sri Lanka.“She was brought in complaining that her Saudi employer drove nails into her body,” said hospital director Prabath Gajadeera.“X-rays showed that there were 24 nails and a needle.”The nails were up to two inches long, said Gajadeera.“There is one nail on the forehead, just under the skin,” he added.Ariyawathie, a mother of three, travelled to Saudi Arabia in March to become a housemaid.Last week, she flew back to Sri Lanka and was admitted to hospital in the south of the island, where she told doctors she had undergone abuse for more than a month.“When we checked her, we found 24 metal pieces in her legs and hands. She still can’t properly sit down and walk,” Dr Kamal Weerathunga told BBC Sandeshaya.Doctors said Ariyawathie was deeply traumatised and unable to give full details of her experience.But she is not in a serious condition and surgeons are expected to try to remove the metal objects from her body today.Sri Lankan authorities told journalists in Colombo that an investigation had been launched. (BBC)