Dubai: A maid has been accused of beating and threatening her sponsor’s three children [under the age of six] with a knife to coerce them to eat and shower.
The 31-year-old Kenyan maid, M.N., was said to have pointed the knife at the necks of three Emirati brothers, aged six, two and one, and threatened to kill them if they did not eat and have a bath in June.
Another maid, I.J., [who worked for the same sponsor] used her mobile phone to record M.N. threatening the children at knifepoint.
The defendant strongly refuted the charges of threatening to kill the brothers and beating them when she entered an innocent plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.
“Did you threaten the kids with a knife to take a bath,” presiding judge Mohammad Jamal asked the suspect in courtroom three.
“No, I did not do that,” M.N. replied.
The children’s mother testified to prosecutors that I.J. informed her that the suspect assaulted her sons every time she was at work.
“I.J. claimed to me that M.N. beat my children with a wooden spoon and constantly threatened them with a knife if they did not have their meals and take a bath. She then showed me a video that she recorded on her mobile… the footage clearly showed the defendant beating my boys with a spoon. Meanwhile another video recording showed M.N. threatening her sons with the knife. When I confronted the maid and asked her why she did that, she answered me so cold-bloodedly, saying ‘I am disciplining them’,” the mother claimed to prosecutors.
According to her prosecution statement, the Kenyan was cited admitting that she beat the children and threatened them with a knife to frighten them and make them eat.
She was also cited admitting that she beat the brothers daily.
A ruling will be heard on November 4.
