Dubai: A lawyer accused a maid on Wednesday of fabricating a criminal case against his client, who was convicted of torturing the maid, out of malice after raising a dispute over her salary.
In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 33-year-old Jordanian woman to one year in jail for torturing her 28-year-old Indonesian maid by banging her head against the wall and shoving a pair of scissors in her ear causing her partial deafness.
The Jordanian defendant had pleaded not guilty and refuted the charge of torturing the maid over three years before the latter absconded and took refuge at the Indonesian Consulate in January 2016.
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The defendant appealed her primary judgement and pleaded not guilty before the Appeal Court.
“My client did not torture the maid or beat her. Her claims were fabricated and the injuries [described in the forensic examiner’s report] are old injuries and not recent.
"The maid had quarrelled with my client over how much her salary should be … then she brought this case out of malice.
"She did not report [the torture] to the police and stayed working for my client for three years … she waited for my client to go on leave to her country before the 28-year-old absconded from the house and took refuge at the Indonesian Consulate,” the defendant’s lawyer, Ali Mosabah Dahi argued before presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm.
Records said an Indonesian diplomat took the maid to a hospital for a medical check-up before lodging a police complaint.
Hearing disability
Dubai Police’s forensic examiner said the victim sustained partial hearing disability and other injuries due to the beating. The convicted housewife had strongly denied being responsible for inflicting the five per cent permanent disability on the victim by shoving the scissors in the maid’s ear.
“No, I did not do it,” she contended in court. “The maid alleged during questioning that my client assaulted her in February 2016 … my client was not present in town, she was visiting her family in Jordan between January and March that year.
"The maid’s allegations were all fabricated … she gave an inconsistent and unfounded statement. Meanwhile, when she was asked why she didn’t report her sponsor to the police earlier, she replied that she did not have the freedom to move and did not have a mobile phone.
However, when she complained to the police, she provided them with her mobile number … her statement and allegations were all baseless,” lawyer Dahi argued before the Appeal Court.
The maid testified that she had worked for the accused for three years, during which she was constantly tortured and abused.
The defendant disputed her ex-maid’s allegations. Lawyer Dahi asked presiding judge Bin Sarm to acquit his client. A ruling will be heard later this month.
