Housewife accused of starving maid to death in Dubai

Dubai - The accused is believed to have previously filed many complaints, suspected to be malicious, against her maids at the police station.

The sister of a 61-year-old Emirati housewife, charged with torturing and starving her Indonesian maid to death, told the court that food was always available in her house.
"The refrigerators had plenty of food and were not locked," said the 51-year-old witness.
She justified the wires installed all around the villa for her sister's fear of strangers entering the house. Her sister is being accused in the Court of First Instance of depriving the maid of her freedom by confining her to staying in the villa and starving her until she died. She is also believed to have physically abused the victim.
According to prosecution records, the defendant had her villa windows and gate all surrounded with metallic wires to restrict the victim's freedom. The Bur Dubai Police learnt that a maid's body was found at her sponsor's villa on September 16, last year.
A forensic expert, who examined the victim's body, said during the investigation that she was very skinny and that she had been made to starve for a long time prior to her death."Injury marks all over her body suggested that she had been beaten up."
A crime scene investigation officer said that he saw clearly visible blood stains and also detected others that had been washed in the villa. The accused is believed to have previously filed many complaints, suspected to be malicious, against her maids at the police station. She is believed to have done so to deprive them of their rights.
mary@khaleejtimes.com