UAE | Crime

Woman accused of beating maid to death arrested

The husband and the friend of the housewife also arrested by police

By Bassma Al Jandaly, Senior Reporter
Published: 22:00 February 3, 2013

Dubai: A woman accused of beating her housemaid to death has been arrested, Dubai Police said on Sunday.

Police said that the 45-year-old Emirati woman, who works for a government department, was arrested for beating her Ethiopian housemaid to death while the woman’s Emirati husband and another Emirati woman, who is a close friend of the family, were arrested for covering up the crime.

Police said that the young housemaid died after being tortured by the woman.

The incident happened late last month when the ambulance centre reported to police that a housemaid was in a critical condition in a villa in Al Rashidiya, said Colonel Yousuf Al Adeedi, Deputy Director of Al Rashidiya police station, while talking to journalists on Sunday.

Colonel Al Adeedi said this was the first murder that had taken place in Al Rashidiya this year.

“When we reached the crime scene, the housemaid was fighting for her life but she died before the ambulance reached there,” he said.

He said that there were deep wounds and cuts on her hands, legs and face.

“The housewife, who is the mother of several children, claimed that the housemaid fell down from the stairs and she died,” he said.

The forensic expert, who checked on the body of the housemaid found she had been severely beaten and had suffered from severe wounds and cuts for more than week and that she had been left without treatment, he added.

He added that the housemaid had been beaten with metal bars and it seems that she had also been lashed.

“There was another two Asian housemaids who work for the same family and they were also beaten up by the woman,” he said.

“One of the housemaid had her jaw broken and the other also had wound marks on her body,” he said.

He said one of the housemaid told police that the housewife used to beat them and that she was the one who killed the Ethiopian housemaid.

“The other housemaid was scared and she said she did not know anything, then she admitted to police that the housewife said to her that she would give her Dh50,000 if she did not tell police anything about the death of the Ethiopian housemaid.

“The father is accused of aiding his wife in her crimes but he is on bail because they have many children and they need someone to take care of them,” he said.

Colonel Al Adeedi said the friend was also released on bail by the public prosecution.

“The friend said she tried to advise her friend not to beat the housemaid but the woman is facing the charges of covering up crime,” he said.

He said the case had been transferred to the public prosection for investigation.