Dubai: A woman who beat her four-year-old stepdaughter and caused her unintentional death will spend 10 years behind bars after she lost her appeal on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Jordanian stepmother, O.Y., was found guilty of beating the girl brutally and causing her head and stomach injuries that led to her death in January.
The Dubai Appeal Court dismissed the stepmother’s appeal for her acquittal or a reduced punishment and upheld the primary ruling [10-year imprisonment].
Delivering the appellate ruling in courtroom 20, presiding judge Eisa Mohammad Sharif said the accused will be deported following the completion of her jail term.
The accused had pleaded not guilty and strongly refuted her accusations when she defended herself before the appellate court.
She claimed that she was not responsible for the girl’s death.
Presiding judge Sharif also upheld the ruling pertaining to the civil right.
The 24-year-old defendant will have to pay Dh20,000 in temporary compensation to the girl’s mother.
The girl’s Jordanian mother testified that her daughter was dead when she reached the hospital.
In her statement before prosecutors, the mother said her ex-husband had asked her over the phone to go to the hospital because the victim was in a serious condition.
“When I reached the hospital, I was told that she fell off her bicycle and injured herself. My daughter’s body was bruised. My children had told me earlier that their stepmother [the accused] constantly treated them badly and hit them, particularly the one who died because she was the youngest,” the mother testified.
Meanwhile the defence lawyer argued before the appellate court that prosecutors described how the incident happened in a way that defied logic.
He said O.Y. treated her stepchildren with love and did not beat or cause the girl’s death.
“We submitted two consultative reports issued by specialist doctors which countered the forensic examiner’s report. The consultative report did not confirm that the girl died because of being beaten, unlike the forensic examiner’s report,” contended the lawyer.
A Syrian dentist told the court that neighbours called him and asked him to come and check the victim after she fell off her bicycle.
“When I checked the girl, she had bruises all over her body and a head injury. It did not look like the bruises had been caused by falling off the bicycle… she was pale and her lips were blue while her body was cold,” said the dentist.
The victim’s elder sister was cited testifying to prosecutors that on January 30 their stepmother [O.Y.] put her sister [victim] on the bicycle although it was broken.
“My sister fell off the bicycle … her head did not hit the wall from the front. The defendant could have prevented my sister from falling. She placed some ice on her head and 30 minutes later my sister’s condition worsened. She lost consciousness and closed her eyes,” said the sister.
Records further cited the sister saying the defendant used to take the four-year-old to the washroom claiming that she wanted to wash her and then she would hear her crying.
Two Ethiopian maids told prosecutors that the defendant used to beat the children, mostly the victim.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
