UAE | Crime
Dubai housemaid 'beat newborn to death'
A housemaid is facing trial for the murder of her newborn whom it is alleged she repeatedly beat to death before dumping his body in a garbage bag.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:05 April 28, 2008
Dubai: A housemaid is facing trial for the murder of her newborn whom it is alleged she repeatedly beat to death before dumping his body in a garbage bag.
The Public Prosecution has charged the 28-year-old Ethiopian housemaid with premeditatedly killing her newborn son by repeatedly beating him until he sustained fatal fractures to his skull and chest.
The housemaid appeared confused by the charges when standing before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir at the Dubai Court of First Instance.
She was unable to understand English or Arabic so the judge adjourned the case until an Ethiopian language translator could be brought in next week.
A 35-year-old Indian housemaid, who along with the suspect works for the same sponsor, testified: "The suspect, myself and our Filipina colleague were sleeping in our room. I woke up surprised when the suspect started yelling and crying in pain at about 1am. She said that her stomach hurt her and when I tried to switch on the light, she asked me not to... When I returned from the washroom she was still in pain. She asked me not to tell our sponsor. The Filipina and I slept in another room."
The witness claimed she told her sponsor what had happened to the suspect the next morning.
"We saw blood covering the housemaid's room when we checked on her... at noon the police arrived at the house and I realised that she had given birth to a child and dumped it in the garbage."
The 27-year-old Emirati sponsor said that he had hired the suspect five months prior to the incident.
"When I returned home from work, I was told she had given birth a normal baby... but she put him in a garbage bag which she threw behind the house. The police came and took her," the sponsor testified before the Public Prosecution.
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