She blamed a servant, but he told police he saw the woman abusing the girl for months before her death.
A 38-year-old Eastern European mother was sentenced to life in prison for torturing and killing her 10-year-old daughter in Dubai.
According to the case file, the mother called an ambulance to her house in The Villa, a Dubai neighbourhood, saying her daughter drowned in the bathtub. Police found burns and bruises on the 10-year-old.
The mother, who lived with the victim, and a two-year-old child were questioned by police. A housekeeper was absent from the investigation.
The mother said the servant fled after drowning her daughter in the bathtub. Police discovered that the servant left the country on the day of the crime.
Interpol arrested the servant in his home country’s airport arrivals hall. He denied the crime when questioned. He told the police that he had arrived in the emirate a few months earlier and that his job was to help with household chores and take the two children to school.
He saw the mother physically and mentally abusing the girl often.
The servant saw the mother lock her daughter in her room the day before the crime. When he went to wake the girl up for school on the morning of the crime, she was not in the bedroom. He opened the bathroom door after hearing water and saw the girl in the tub. She was dead, he told her mother. The mother’s calm response shocked him. He returned home to avoid blame. The mother confessed to assaulting and drowning her daughter in the bathtub after hearing the servant’s statement. The Dubai Misdemeanour Court convicted the servant for failing to report the crime. Deportation follows a month in prison.
UAE law: 5 years for impersonating a public servant.
Interfering with public jobs or services carries the same penalty. The State Public Prosecution confirmed that government impersonators can be imprisoned for five years. The Public Prosecution posted a video on social media explaining the consequences of impersonating a job and providing a false job description . The Public Prosecution stated that, according to Article (299) of Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021 promulgating the Crimes and Penalties Law, whoever impersonates a public position shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, and the same penalty shall be imposed on whoever interferes with a public job or service or conducts to achieve an illegal purpose or to obtain any advantage for himself or others.
If security or police employees are impersonated, the penalty is one to five years in prison.
