Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014
Dubai: An electrician has been jailed for two years for locking a maid in a flat for two weeks after she was kidnapped outside her sponsor’s villa. A woman — who is still at large — pushed the maid out of the 12th floor window when she refused to work as a prostitute.
The 41-year-old Bangladeshi electrician, M.Y., and the unidentified woman were said to have locked the 25-year-old Bangladeshi maid in the flat.
Records said the maid, H.A., went to throw out the garbage outside her sponsor’s villa in Ajman when she was kidnapped. She was locked in the flat in Al Nahda in June 2013.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced M.Y. in absentia (the accused did not appear before the court.)
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the defendant will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
“The woman beat me while we fought because I refused to work in the sex industry. I was crying beside the window when she came from behind and pushed me. I fell out and clung to an electric wire and plastic cables. I banged down on the pavement and woke up in hospital,” H.A. testified.
Broken legs
Medical reports said the maid sustained fractured legs and a broken jaw.
“One day my colleague and I went out to throw out the garbage… two men kidnapped us. They locked us in the flat. A woman named Roba wanted to force me to work in prostitution but I refused. She constantly prevented me from going out… I only ate and slept. I could not abscond because the door was always locked and I did not have a phone. On the day of the incident, Roba pushed me from the 12th floor,” the maid said.
The building’s Indian watchman said a Filipina neighbour warned him that a woman (H.A.) was crying on the pavement.
“She cried and was bleeding profusely from her mouth. She did not live in the building and I had never seen her before. The surveillance cameras showed M.H. and a woman leaving the building ten minutes before the incident,” said the watchman.
Prosecution records did not identify the nationality or name of the unidentified woman but the maid identified her as Roba.
M.Y. is entitled to a retrial according to the Criminal Procedures Law.
By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
