A maid who says she was beaten and tortured while working in Malaysia was welcomed home by her mother yesterday – and scolded by neighbours for having trusted the recruitment company that sent her abroad.

After spending more than two weeks under the care of the Cambodian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Sanh Makara, 33, from Pursat province, arrived home this week on a flight paid for by employment agency Champa Manpower. “I was so happy that I could  come back. I feared that if I had stayed in Malaysia for another month, I would have died,” she said.

Her 58-year-old mother, Chea Si Yan, from Pursat province’s Kandieng district, had made numerous pleas for Champa Manpower to release her daughter and her goddaughter, Moa Chamroune, 30, from their two-year contracts, which began last March.

Sanh Makara said she was relieved to be home – despite neighbours speaking badly to her for having believed she would be treated well while working overseas.

She called on NGOs to help Moa Chamroune, whom she had lost contact with, and other maids being mistreated overseas.

In October, the Cambodian government temporarily banned labour recruitment firms from sending domestic workers to Malaysia, amid allegations of abuse.