Maid jailed for smothering love child to death in Dubai

Dubai - She will be deported after serving the jail term

A housemaid, who smothered her love child to death immediately after giving birth to the baby boy, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
Prosecutors accused the 33-year-old Filipina of murder.
She suffocated the baby by stuffing a piece of cloth inside his mouth.
The incident took place inside the toilet at the house of her female sponsor's sister in Al Nahda, Al Qusais on September 16, last year.
The Court of First Instance also ruled that she be deported after completing her jail term (25 years).
The maid was evaluated by psychiatrists and found to be mentally sane.
"Around 1am, I saw the accused exhausted and she told me it was because of her menstrual pain. She then went to the toilet and stayed there for about two hours. I knocked on the door to check on her several times but she did not open," the 36-year-old Filipina sponsor's sister, who works as an air hostess, said.
"When she got out later, she held a plastic bag which she put near the kitchen's door. She rushed to sit on a chair. I urged her to let me take her to hospital as she looked quite tired and unwell but she would not let me. I could see she was bleeding a lot," the witness added.
She pointed out that the maid was taken by ambulance after 3pm to hospital.
"A doctor there told us the maid had just given birth and that's why she was bleeding."
A forensic expert concluded in her report the maid's baby was born healthy and alive.
The cause of death was the heart and breathing failure due to suffocation, the report said.
A police lieutenant said they went to the flat after being informed by a hospital about an illicit pregnancy case.
"We found blood all across the main room. There was a bag containing lots of women's clothes and under the clothes was a dead newborn with a piece of cloth inside his mouth."
The maid has the right to appeal the verdict within 15 days from the issuance date.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai