Dubai: A housemaid has been accused of killing her illegitimate newborn by wrapping her with a cloth to hide her from her sponsor inside a bag where she stopped breathing.
Prosecutors accused the 29-year-old Ethiopian housemaid, J.A., of intentionally killing her baby girl by suffocating her when she wrapped her with the cloth and hid her inside her travel bag.
She will stand trial before the Dubai Court of First Instance next month.
Prosecutors accused J.A. of having consensual sex out of wedlock with a 35-year-old Indian driver, A.K.
The baby girl’s body was discovered by the Emirati grandson of J.A.’s sponsor when he and his grandmother convinced J.A. to take a shower.
The 17-year-old grandson and his grandmother asked the housemaid to go the washroom meanwhile they searched her bags, according to prosecution records.
The grandmother searched one bag and the 17-year-old was about to search the second bag when J.A. walked out of the bathroom. As soon as she spotted him opening the bag, she yelled at him in a very strange and hysterical way.
The grandson suspected her cries and insisted on opening the bag.
“She said that she would remove her belongings out of the bag. She moved out two sacks then she grabbed the piece of cloth and tried to go out. We stopped her but she resisted… when we asked her about what was hidden in the wrap, she claimed it’s a baby that she got from outside. When we discovered that the baby was dead, I immediately called the police,” the grandson claimed to prosecutors.
The Family and Juveniles Prosecution referred the housemaid to the Court of First Instance where she will soon be prosecuted for murder.
J.A. and A.K. did not appear before the Dubai Misdemeanour Court on Sunday where they were scheduled to be prosecuted for having consensual sex.
Jail wardens failed to bring the housemaid from detention.
Afraid
Presiding Judge Ali Attiya Saad adjourned the case until A.K. is also legally notified about the next hearing on September 9.
A forensic examiner said the autopsy confirmed that the baby was breastfed before she died.
An Emirati policeman claimed that J.A. admitted during questioning that she had an illicit affair with A.K. She became pregnant and gave birth in her bedroom at her sponsor’s villa.
“She claimed that the newborn was alive when she delivered her and cut the umbilical cord with a knife in her room. Then she wrapped the newborn with the cloth and hid her inside the bag because she did not want her sponsors to know about it. The baby died inside the bag,” said the policeman.
The mother told prosecutors that she met A.K. in August 2011 and he had sex with her. She got pregnant, had the baby alone inside her bedroom and without anyone’s help after nine months.
The Ethiopian housemaid confessed that she left the baby wrapped inside the bag from 8am till 2pm.
During prosecution questioning the housemaid claimed that A.K. walked into her bedroom that evening and had sex with her against her will. She alleged that she was scared and did not resist because she was afraid her sponsor would deport her.
