Ras Al Khaimah: The Ras Al Khaimah court has sentenced an Ethiopian maid to five years in prison followed by deportation for killing her infant so that her employers would not discover that she had delivered a baby, a judiciary official said on Sunday.
The ruling was pronounced by Presiding Judge Yousuf Rajab, the official said. He said the housemaid got pregnant after having an illicit affair with her Ethiopian boyfriend, who promised to marry her, but dumped her.
The maid told the judge that she was not aware that she was pregnant at the time she found the new job. She tried to abort the pregnancy herself several times, but failed. She then delivered the baby in her room at her sponsor's home in Ras Al Khaimah, official said.
She put a blanket over the infant to prevent anyone from hearing his cries, but could not stop the crying. She then put her hand on his mouth to stop the crying, suffocating the baby, the official said. "The maid told the judge that she did not mean to kill her baby but only wanted to prevent him from crying,'' he said.
