DUBAI // Three maids found working illegally who had given birth to illegitimate children were this week sentenced to prison.
YB, 42, from India, was arrested on February 18 with her 9-year-old daughter after a member of the public tipped off police that the two were living illegally in the country while the mother worked as a part-time maid in a number of houses.
She was charged with having consensual sex, overstaying her visa and absconding from her sponsor. She told prosecutors that she absconded shortly after arriving in the country 12 years ago. She met an Indian man and had sex with him several times at his residence but when she fell pregnant, he disappeared. "I know I'm guilty but I loved him, that's why I has sex with him," she said.
She confessed to the charges and was sentenced to five months in prison to be followed by deportation.
In a second case heard in the Misdemeanour Court MK, 33, a Filipina with a two-year-old son, was sentenced to seven months in prison on charges of consensual sex and overstaying her visa.
She said she had been in a relationship with a compatriot who left the country when she fell pregnant. "I came in 2007 and shortly after I absconded, my visa expired, I couldn't renew it and I have been living illegally ever since," she said.
SR, 50, a Filipina with a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, was sentenced to seven months in prison on charges of residing illegally in the country since 2008 and consensual sex. "We were in love and he promised he would marry me," she said.
A policewoman at the court said the children were in the custody of their mothers in jail.