Illegal domestic help falls to death from eighth floor

A 28-year-old Asian housemaid fell to death from the eighth floor of a building while trying to flee through the ventilation shaft of an apartment in Al Khalidiyah area of Abu Dhabi.

The maid, identified as R.A., was staying in the country flouting the residency law and was trying to escape from getting arrested, said the police.

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammed Bursheed, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Abu Dhabi Police, said when an inspector from the municipality knocked at the door of the apartment to issue fine for hanging laundry in a way that is against the regulations, the maid mistook him for a police officer rounding up illegals. This was after the inspector told her that he came to issue a ticket against the tenant of the house for an offence related to hanging washed clothes outside, violating the regulations.

The domestic help believed that the man was a police officer who came to arrest her for illegally staying in the country. Out of fear, the maid hurried to run away through a toilet window leading to the building ventilation shaft. She climbed down the sewage pipes, but slipped and fell down to death. Bursheed clarified that the preliminary investigation showed that there was no criminal element behind the incident.

Lt. Colonel Jumaa Al Kaabi, Director of the Self Crimes at the CID of Abu Dhabi Police, said the operations room received a report that a woman had fallen inside a building’s ventilation shaft on Al Khalidiyah Street in Abu Dhabi. Police patrols and ambulance rushed to the scene. Al Kaabi said the woman’s body was found lying on the ground with injuries and fractures.

The preliminary investigation confirmed that the woman fell to death after she tried to run from the inspector. She ran to hide herself in the bathroom and then decided to flee through the window.

news@khaleejtimes.com