Emirati housewife gets 7 years in jail for starving maid to death

Picture for illustrative purposes

A housewife accused of starving her maid to death and locking her up inside her villa, was sentenced to 7 years in jail on Monday morning.

The Court of First Instance convicted the 61-year-old Emirati housewife of the charges of deprivation of freedom and false imprisonment that resulted in the Indonesian maid's death.

A forensic expert said the main cause of death was starvation.

A police lieutenant, who reported to the crime scene on September 16, last year said that the victim's body bore bruise and injury marks.  "The housewife who looked scared and agitated, kept saying she did not doing anything and claimed the maid fell down".

When the forensics arrived to the villa in Bur Dubai they spotted blood stains on the stairs leading to the upper floor.

The lieutenant added that the refrigerator was locked and so were the closets.

When opening the refrigerator food was found but some looked old and rotten.

It was revealed later that the housewife had a file at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs and was known to been physically abusive against her domestic helpers. There was a recommendation from the directorate to stop her from further hiring of maids.

The police officers found food kept in the defendant's bedroom. Some of it was expired.

When asked about the reason her villa windows and gate were all surrounded with metallic wires, the accused claimed it was to keep the neighbours' cat away.

Through investigation, the officers learned some of the maids would climb the gate to get food from outside.

A lieutenant, who examined the victim's body, said the main cause of death was starvation. "She looked very skinny and in a bad health condition".

A crime scene investigation officer said that he saw clearly visible blood stains and also detected others that had been washed in the maid's room.

The ruling may be appealed.

mary@khaleejtimes.com