Dubai: An absconded housemaid has been given a jail sentence after a court convicted her of having sex while unmarried that resulted in an illegitimate baby.
The Dubai Misdemeanour Court jailed the 31-year-old Filipina housemaid, J.J, a mother of a two-year-old boy, to 14 months in jail.
Prosecution records said J.B. admitted absconding from her Emirati sponsor in Fujairah. She came to Dubai and indulged in a love affair with a man named James.
She claimed she had unprotected sex with James, a fellow Filipino, who ditched her as soon as she informed him that she was pregnant.
Prosecutors charged J.J. of having consensual sex with a stranger, flouting the residency laws by working for a different sponsor and staying illegally in the country.
The court jailed her one year for having consensual sex and two months for breaching the residency law.
She will be deported following the completion of her jail term.
When J.J. stood before the judge with her two-year-old son beside her, she denied having consensual sex with the man, who was not identified. Prosecution records said J.B. was arrested during a random raid against illegal residents in the Al Manama area.
"I absconded from Emirati sponsor in Fujairah after four months because my salary was very low compared to the workload... James dumped me when he learnt about my pregnancy… he left the county. I had to pay Dh1,500 for [a] woman to help me deliver in Hamriya area," she claimed.
The judgement remains subject to appeal within 10 days.
