AN Indonesian former maid told a court for the first time today how she was starved, beaten and humiliated by her Hong Kong employers.

In a case that has sparked outrage, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih described in vivid detail how for months she lived on nothing but bread and rice, slept only four hours a day and was beaten so badly by former employer Law Wan-tung that she was knocked unconscious.

“I was tortured,” she told the courtroom on the opening day of the trial.

The case has shone a spotlight on the plight of migrant domestic helpers in Asia and the Middle East after reports of torture and even killings.

Such cases have prompted a clampdown on domestic worker visas in some countries — Myanmar suspended a seven-month-old scheme in September and Indonesia has pledged to stop sending domestic workers abroad from 2017.

Ms Law faces 21 charges including grievous bodily harm with intent, criminal intimidation and failure to pay wages.

The most serious carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Around 20 members of an organisation representing Hong Kong domestic workers protested outside the court, waving signs declaring: “No to modern-day slavery.”

“Justice for Erwiana” and “We are workers, we are not slaves,” they shouted.

Thousands took to the streets in May calling for better working conditions and greater legal protection for domestic helpers.

Amnesty International last year condemned the “slavery-like” conditions faced by domestic helpers in the city and accused authorities of “inexcusable” inaction.