Woman convicted of starving maid to death has prison term reduced on appeal

DUBAI // A 61-year-old woman who was sentenced to seven years behind bars for starving her maid to death, had her prison term reduced by more than half.

The Emirati was convicted of locking up and starving the Indonesian woman to death in September 2015.

She fitted locks to all the doors, cupboards, drawers and even the fridge in her home, and also installed a fence on top of the garden wall and iron bars on the windows of her villa to prevent the maid, whose age was not in court records, from running away.

In September, the woman’s sister called police after finding the maid’s body at her sibling’s home in Bur Dubai.

“When we arrived we found the dead body on the floor in her room. Although there was a bed, she was fully dressed and in her hijab and the room was tidy and clean. The defendant was very nervous,” said an Emirati police officer.

The officer said he became suspicious after finding a blood trail on the stairs. “We asked the defendant what happened. She said the maid fell and refused to answer any of our questions, she told us not to ask her anything.”

Police records revealed several complaints had been lodged against the woman in the past for abuse of maids and several had absconded from her employment.

A report had been submitted to the Naturalisation and Residency Department requesting she be banned from employing maids, the court was told.

A 29-year-old policeman told Dubai Criminal Court that when he searched the villa he found every door, cabinet, drawer and even the fridge locked.

“Whenever we wanted to open a drawer or a cabinet, the woman would reach for a big key chain in her pocket. She kept repeating that it was private property and she needed to protect it,” the officer said.

A coroner said the maid had been beaten before starving to death.

“She starved to death and she was subjected to a severe beating, the examination showed that she was apparently given some food to prevent her death but since the condition was severe the attempt failed to save her life.”

The woman, who denied all charges, appealed against the sentence issued by the criminal court. Prosecutors also appealed and sought a harsher punishment.

The Dubai Appeals Court reduced the woman’s prison sentence to three years.