Father accused of burning daughter, 3, and threatening to throw her off balcony

The 23-year-old father is also accused by his mother-in-law of keeping her daughter addicted to drugs.

DUBAI // A woman has been granted temporary custody of her three-year-old granddaughter amid claims that the girl’s father burned her and repeatedly threatened to throw her off a balcony.

The 23-year-old father was also accused by his wife’s mother of keeping her daughter addicted to drugs and police said he would threaten to throw the toddler off the balcony whenever he argued with his wife.

Maj Sheheen Al Mazmi, director of the child and women department at Dubai Police, said that the child would remain in the custody of the grandmother until legal proceedings are over.

“What the father did to the child is something that the brain cannot comprehend,” he said.

“Almost every time the father would argue with the mother, who would not adhere to his demands, he would threaten to throw the child off the balcony; it even escalated to burns on the child’s body.

“The grandmother had a doctor’s report with her, proving that the child has been burnt.”

The department has repeatedly tried to contact the father, who is involved in an ongoing court case with his wife, to summon him and have him sign a sworn statement but he has been unresponsive.

Fatima Al Kindi, head of the social support section, said that the grandmother ended up taking her daughter, 22, and the girl to the child and women protection department.

“She was asking Dubai Police to protect her daughter and help treat her for a drug addiction, which, she said, her son-in-law imposed,” said Ms Al Kindi. “After repeatedly being threatened by the man, his wife took the daughter to the grandmother’s house.

“The father, refusing to allow his daughter to stay there, tried to break into the house and take her back, but a fight between his wife’s brother erupted. A complaint against him was filed at the relevant police station.”

Ms Al Kindi said that the child would remain with the grandmother until the matter was resolved.