DUBAI // A maid accused of having consensual sex with a man and giving birth to his boy told a court this morning the charges should be dropped because he is her husband.
"We got married three days before I had to leave to Dubai for work," the 25-year-old NR, a Filipina, told prosecutors.
NR is charged with having consensual sex outside wedlock, getting pregnant from an illicit relationship, absconding from her sponsor and overstaying her visa.
She denied the first two charges.
"I have a marriage certificate in my country," NR told prosecutors, although she did not have a copy to show the court.
Her husband, JA, is said in records to have left the country 10 days before she gave birth because his visa was near expiration.
She told the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours that on their wedding day, June 10, 2007, she had already been waiting to be hired in Dubai for some time and could not turn down the offer when it came.
NR worked for her Emirati sponsor for two years before leaving to live with her husband in the UAE after he came seeking work.
"He came on a visit visa and resided in Satwa," she said.
Records show that NR was arrested immediately after giving birth on July 27. She said she arrived at Al Baraha Hospital with labour pains and was not asked for any documents to prove she was married.
"I did not know, and neither did my husband, that we needed any documents to prove our relationship in order to have sex or a child," she said in records.
The next hearing will be September 18.
salamir@thenational.ae
