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Maid stabs RAK housewife 70 times; kills child

RAS AL KHAIMAH — The Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Police arrested a 21-year-old Ethiopian housemaid suspected of murdering a Moroccan woman and her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter in their apartment in the Nakheel area on Saturday morning.

The suspect stabbed the 35-year-old woman about 70 times using a knife.

After locking the victim’s body along with her child in the bedroom of their apartment on the second floor of a residential building, the maid set it on fire, according to the police.

Lt-Col Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, Chief of the RAK CID, said the police received a tip-off about a major fire in an apartment, and the police patrols and a team from the RAK Civil Defence Department rushed to the scene.

Firefighters managed to control the fire within a few minutes before it spread to the other apartments.

The rescue team broke into the apartment and found the bodies of the mother and her daughter in the bedroom.

The mother’s body had minor burns but was stabbed several times. Lt-Col Darmaki said the child had no injuries, but had died of suffocation in her sleep. The police transferred the bodies to the Saqr Hospital for autopsy.

Major General Shaikh Taleb bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chief of Ras Al Khaimah Police, instructed the CID to form a team and investigate the matter immediately and arrest the murderer.

The victim’s husband a UAE national, who was not at home when the gruesome incident took place, informed the police that the family had hired the Ethiopian housemaid just 10 days ago.

The housemaid was found missing after the incident, leading to suspicion. Some money, gold and a mobile phone which belonged to the victim were also missing.

The RAK CID, in coordination with its counterparts in Sharjah, conducted an investigation and arrested the Ethiopian suspect at her friend’s house in Sharjah where she was hiding.

During interrogations, the suspect confessed to the crime and admitted that she did it because her employer had been very abusive.

The defendant admitted to stabbing the victim with a knife during the night after a scuffle when her employer threatened to end her services the following morning. — ismail@khaleejtimes.com