Sharjah's high rise skyline at dusk. Parental negligence is under scrutiny after a series of tragedies involving fells from balconies and windows. Reem Mohammed / The National
Sharjah's high rise skyline at dusk. Parental negligence is under scrutiny after a series of tragedies involving fells from balconies and windows. Reem Mohammed / The National
Sharjah's high rise skyline at dusk. Parental negligence is under scrutiny after a series of tragedies involving fells from balconies and windows. Reem Mohammed / The National
Sharjah's high rise skyline at dusk. Parental negligence is under scrutiny after a series of tragedies involving fells from balconies and windows. Reem Mohammed / The National

UAE

Mother of Sharjah toddler killed in apartment fall charged with negligence

Investigators believe toddler fell eight floors after slipping on a chair near a window

Salam Al Amir
Ruba Haza

December 12, 2019

  • English
  • Arabic

A mother has been charged with negligence after her daughter, 2, fell to her death from an eighth-floor flat in Sharjah.

The tragedy unfolded on Monday afternoon when the toddler is believed to have climbed on to a chair near a window before slipping.

It is suspected the girl was left in the apartment alone.

Her mother, 20, returned and realised her daughter was missing.

This is a child's life we are talking about and it is our responsibility to look after them, to raise them in a safe environment

After seeing the open window she peered out to see a crowd gathered around the child’s body below.

The incident is the second such tragedy in the UAE this week. On Sunday, another child fell to her death from a ninth floor balcony in Dubai.

Police believe the Sharjah girl, from Sudan, was asleep when her mother left the flat in Al Nahda to pick up her other children from school.

“Initial investigations suggest the girl went out to the balcony to look for her mother,” a police official said.

“When she saw her on the pavement walking towards the building’s entrance she leaned over to look at her stepping inside. She lost balance and fell.”

The mother has been summoned for questioning at Al Qusais police station and released on bail.

Earlier, Moza Al Shoomi, deputy head of Emirates Child Protection Association, said parents, building owners and municipal authorities needed to be held to account for such accidents.

"We can't blame the chair or the window for their deaths," Ms Al Shoomi told The National.

“The ones who should be held responsible are the parents or caregivers who left the children unattended, building owners who didn’t implement safety measures, and the municipalities for not making sure that the safety measures are being implemented.

“This is a child’s life we are talking about and it is our responsibility to look after them, to raise them in a safe environment.”

The UAE's 2016 child protection law says parents or caregivers are prohibited from leaving a child without supervision.

Breaking the law can lead to imprisonment or a fine of not less than Dh5,000.

Two further fall deaths were reported in the past week, a 16-year-old who fell from the window of a sixth floor apartment in Umm Al Quwain and a 15-year-old who fell from the 10th floor of a building in Sharjah. Police believe both teenagers took their own lives, but investigations are ongoing.

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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

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