Mother faces tougher penalties for newborn death

The Public Prosecution is seeking tougher punishment against a Filipina who intentionally battered her newborn to death while her lawyer is seeking a reduction of her three-year imprisonment.

Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 32-year-old mother, identified as E.L., to three years in jail followed by deportation last week. Gulf News yesterday learnt that the Public Prosecution appealed the initial verdict seeking a stiffer punishment against the mother who was convicted of beating her 45-day-old girl to death.

Her lawyer, Nabih Badr, of Nabih Badr Advocates and Legal Consultants, said he appealed against the ruling and sought a reduced term and clemency for his client. The Filipina denied the charges and said her daughter died after accidentally falling from her hands into the bathtub.

Badr said: "Every mother is ready to sacrifice her life to save her child. God gave every mother a caring and warm heart towards her child. It would have been impossible for my client, who is a mother of five children, to premeditatedly batter her 45-day-old girl to death. If the charge was true, she definitely must have been suffering from postpartum depression, which pushes a patient to suicide or to kill someone."

Badr said a Sudanese watchman raped her in Lebanon (where she was working before moving to Dubai with her sponsor) and got her pregnant. "She kept this from her family and sponsor so as not to lose her job."