'Woman assaults maid, locks her up in balcony'

A 34-year-old Emirati allegedly assaulted her maid with an iron bar and locked her in the balcony for two days without giving her anything to eat, a Dubai court heard on Tuesday.
The defendant, a housewife, has been charged with aggravated assault in the Court of First Instance. The defendant is believed to have assaulted the housemaid on various occasions, leaving her with permanent injuries.
The case was reported on July 24 last year. The 32-year-old Indian maid said she did not receive any salary since she was hired about eight months prior to the complaint.
She claimed the housewife would beat her up with an iron bar. "I hit my head (on the wall) when she pushed me in the bathroom. I had multiple bruises because of the assault."
The housemaid said she was hospitalised for about two and a half months after she passed out. The maid said her employer locked her up in the balcony for two days and that her hands were swollen. She said she could not contact the recruitment office because she did not have a phone.
A police lieutenant said in the nvestigation that they were informed about the incident at 8pm. "We found later that the victim was living in the balcony and sleeping there with no cover."
The housewife reportedly admitted to the officers that she assaulted the maid and inflicted the injuries on her. "She said the maid worked hard for three months and then did not want to work and said she wanted to go back to her country," the lieutenant said.
The defendant reportedly admitted that she used an iron bar to beat the maid to push her to work. "She did it several times in six months."
The accused claimed that on the day of incident, the maid went out to the balcony and stayed there. She claimed the maid refused to eat anything, due to which she fainted and an ambulance had to be called in.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai