Mother in UAE jailed after trying to smother sons to death

Dubai - She broke down in tears upon seeing one of her children.

A housewife, who tried to smother her two kids, then aged 4 and 2, with a pillow, and left the youngest of them brain dead, received a five-year imprisonment term by a Dubai court on Thursday.
According to public prosecution documents, the 26-year-old Bangladeshi mother tried to end her life by slitting her left wrist with a knife after realising what she did to her children.
She faced two counts of attempted murder and an attempted suicide charge. The Court of First Instance ordered that she be deported after serving her jail term and paying a Dh2,000 fine.
Earlier, the mother broke down in tears upon seeing one of her children in court.
The court had ordered that she be referred to a hospital for mental evaluation by a special committee after her husband cited mental illness history within her family.
The incident was reported on April 21, 2017, to Al Muraqqabat police station.
The woman's brother-in-law said he got a frantic phone call from his brother. "He wanted me to go to his place in Al Mamzar. I saw later his two sons lying in bed. His 4-year-old son was barely able to move while the younger was motionless," the 30-year-old Bangladeshi driver said.
The witness added that he learned from the kids' father that his wife tried to kill her sons by suffocating them with a pillow. She then tried to kill herself by cutting her left wrist.
"I went home after work. I used my own key when none answered the door. In the bedroom, I saw my wife lying down injured on the floor. Her hand was bleeding," the woman's 39-year-old Bangladeshi husband, a PRO, said. 
"I called my brother to take my sons to hospital after seeing them lying in bed and not moving. My sister and I took my wife to hospital."
A police lieutenant told the prosecutor they were informed about an attempted murder- attempted suicide incident by a hospital. "We went to the hospital and found the 4-year-old son in a stable condition but the youngest son's condition was very critical. The children's uncle said he went to his brother's house upon his request for urgent help. The uncle recounted he saw him crying and unable to talk at the sight of his wife and children."
According to a medical report, the two-year-old boy reached hospital badly injured. "He suffered total heart and lung function failure. His heart beat again after long and relentless attempts to resuscitate him but his brain got entirely damaged. He is clinically diagnosed as brain dead. He remains on life support at hospital with no hope for recovery at all," the report said.
The other son, who was left with neck bruises only, recovered from the assault.
A psychiatrist examination of the mother ruled out she suffered any mental illness and that she was aware of her actions and could be held responsible therefor.
- mary@khaleejtimes.com 
 

• Dubai