ABU DHABI // A mother convicted of sex outside wedlock and negligence after her three-year-old child fell to his death from a 13th-floor window presented a blood test to the appeal court yesterday to prove she was in the process of getting married.
DS, an Emirati woman, was sentenced in April by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance to two years in prison for having sex outside of wedlock and to two months for negligence that led to the boy's death. The mother was acquitted of "justification of sin", a common charge when there is an allegation of a moral crime.
DS appeared before Abu Dhabi Appellate Court demanding that the lower court's verdict be reduced after she presented a blood test she took along with the man she had sex with, which is required by law before marriage.
The son, identified as AT, died after falling from an apartment in Khalidiya about 1 am on January 20. The mother, who worked for the UAE Armed Forces, had left him with her Indonesian maid, N T.
The maid was sentenced to one month in prison, followed by deportation, for negligence that led to the death of the child. The maid was deported last month, according to a court official.
Relatives, who were at the house after the accident, told The National the mother went to a pharmacy to buy medicine for her ill son.
But prosecutors said she was meeting her lover, an Emirati man identified as T A. The criminal court also found the man guilty of having sex outside of wedlock and sentenced him to two years.
Col Maktoum Ali al Sherifi, the director of the Capital Police, said in January that a bedroom window was only slightly open, but that there was enough room for a small child to fit through.
The mother arrived home after midnight and found her son lying on the ground outside.
Prosecutors submitted their case to the Criminal Court in February with a signed confession from the mother pleading guilty to all the charges, but during the first hearing she told the judge she had been beaten into signing it. Her ex-husband brought the case against her, telling prosecutors his ex-wife was in an illicit relationship with another man and that her negligence led to the death of the son.
D S has been in the Wathba Prison since February.
hhassan@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
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- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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What are the regulations?
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Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
THE DRAFT
The final phase of player recruitment for the T10 League has taken place, with UAE and Indian players being drafted to each of the eight teams.
Bengal Tigers
UAE players: Chirag Suri, Mohammed Usman
Indian: Zaheer Khan
Karachians
UAE players: Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber
Indian: Pravin Tambe
Kerala Kings
UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Abdul Shakoor
Indian: RS Sodhi
Maratha Arabians
UAE players: Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
Indian: S Badrinath
Northern Warriors
UAE players: Imran Haider, Rahul Bhatia
Indian: Amitoze Singh
Pakhtoons
UAE players: Hafiz Kaleem, Sheer Walli
Indian: RP Singh
Punjabi Legends
UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Sandy Singh
Indian: Praveen Kumar
Rajputs
UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed
Indian: Munaf Patel
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
THE SPECS
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
