Dubai: A maid has been accused of stealing two mobile phones and Dh6,000 from her co-worker’s purse while she was at her sponsor’s villa where they both worked.
The 29-year-old Ethiopian maid, M.A., was said to have entered the maids’ bedroom while her countrywoman was busy at the Ethiopian Consulate, opened the purse and taken from it two mobiles and cash in August.
Once the countrywoman discovered that her belongings were missing she informed her Emirati sponsor, who instantly reported the matter to the police.
Prosecutors accused M.A. of theft.
When she appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance, M.A admitted stealing the mobiles but denied taking the cash.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect abused the fact that her countrywoman was outside the house when she stole her mobiles worth Dh1,600 and Dh6,000 in cash that she had kept inside her purse.
“I only took the mobile phones from my friend’s bag … I did not steal any money,” she told presiding judge Ahmad Mohammad.
The co-worker testified to prosecutors that she discovered the theft once she returned from the Ethiopian Consulate to pick up her belongings.
“As I walked into the room that we shared at my sponsor’s residence, I noticed that my money and mobiles were missing. I had kept my belongings in the purse inside a drawer. When I realised that M.A. had stolen the belongings, I informed my sponsor and he called the police. The suspect had confessed to me that she stole the money and wired it to her country,” she claimed to prosecutors.
The sponsor claimed to prosecutors that when police came to his residence and searched the suspect, they found the stolen mobiles hidden in her private bag in the bedroom.
The sponsor’s Indian driver testified to prosecutors that M.A. had asked him to wire the Dh6,000 to her country and he gave her the receipt.
The suspect was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that she stole the mobiles and the cash.
A ruling will be heard on November 27.
