Picture used for illustrative purposes.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a verdict issued by the Criminal Court sentencing an Eastern European woman to life in prison to be followed by deportation after being convicted of physically abusing her daughter, locking her up inside her room and causing her to die by drowning in the bathtub. The case dated back to June last year when an ambulance moved to a house in The Villa area in Dubai after a family had reported that their daughter had drowned in the bathtub.

As they discovered that the girl had unnatural death, the paramedics reported that the girl’s death was suspicious with her body showing signs of torture, burns and bruises. The police began gathering inferences and interrogating the mother who was living with the victim, a younger child and a servant who was not at home during the interrogations and was found to have left the country on the day of the crime.

On interrogation, the mother denied that she had anything to do with her daughter’s death and accused the runaway servant of committing the crime. After a search warrant had been issued against him, the servant was arrested by the Interpol upon his arrival at his home airport.

According to the official documents, the servant denied the charges levelled against him, pleading that he came to the UAE on a visit visa a few months ago to help the family with the housework and take the victim and her brother to and from school. The servant stated that during his work with the family, he noticed that the mother deliberately tortured and physically abused her daughter continuously.

A day before the crime, the mother locked up her daughter inside her room and he left the place, he said, adding that the following morning, she gave him the room key and asked him to wake up the girl and take her to school. The servant stated in the interrogations that he did not find the victim in her bed but heard a faint sound of water running in the bathroom.

When he opened the bathroom door, he found the child lying on the small bathtub and the water coming out of the faucet on her face. As he thought that the girl was dead, he turned straight to her mother’s room to tell her accordingly but was astonished at the reaction of the mother, who responded to what he said calmly, he added. As he was afraid that the woman would accuse him of committing the crime, he left the country but was arrested by the Interpol upon arrival at his home airport and returned to the UAE, he said.

The Court of Misdemeanor sentenced him to one month in jail for failing to report the competent authorities of the crime although he knew about it, he added. Faced with the servant’s statement, the mother confessed to having physically abused her daughter and leaving her inside the bathtub until she died.