UAE maid confessed to baby murder under duress, defence lawyer tells court

A housemaid who is facing the death penalty after admitting she killed her employers’ baby confessed only because of 'emotional pressure', the Abu Dhabi Appeals Court hears.

ABU DHABI // A maid facing the death penalty after admitting that she killed her employers’ baby confessed only because of “emotional pressure”, the Appeals Court has heard.

S T, from Indonesia, was convicted of murdering the three-month-old girl by smashing her head against a table.

But her lawyer argued on Tuesday that she had only confessed under duress.

He said no one had seen her killing the child because security cameras in the house did not cover the room where the baby died.

When arrested by police in April she denied murdering the baby, saying the fatal head injuries were a result of accidentally dropping her on the floor. She denied it twice again to prosecutors, but on April 30 confessed to murder.

“She was under stress and pressure. She had to wake up at 4am … to leave at 7am,” her lawyer said. “The confession was under pressure and followed multiple denials.”

He said she had spent all day being transferred between prison and the victim’s house as investigations continued. By the end of the day she could no longer handle the pressure and confessed.

The maid was given the death sentence by the Criminal Court on the request of the victim’s relatives. But her lawyers argued that under Sharia the required witness statements for a death penalty verdict were missing.

The witnesses were all females and Sharia states that in vengeance verdicts, the testimony of females is invalid, the lawyer said.

“Moreover, the grandmother’s testimony contradicts what prosecutors said,” he said.

Prosecutors said there was no video camera in the bedroom so the footage showed only the maid taking the infant out of the room.

The child’s grandmother had claimed she watched on video the maid hitting the baby’s head against the table.

The lawyer said watching the incident on cameras is not sufficiently conclusive.

A final verdict will be delivered on January 21.