Maid, friends lose human trafficking case

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A maid teamed up with male friends to coerce her ex-husband’s underprivileged sister into prostitution. A jury upheld their punishments on Wednesday.

The Asian maid, 30, with the help of a compatriot employee, 42, labourer, 30, and carpenter, 35, lured the Bangladeshi girl, 16, with the prospect of finding her a job to support her hard-up parents.

Both the maid and the employee prepared travel documents with her age exaggerated. The employee received her at the airport and sheltered her at his flat. The maid took her to a brothel in Al Muhaisna.

The brothel –an abandoned trading store whose glass façade had been tinted- was being run by the labourer and carpenter with the help of fugitives, prosecutors revealed during a hearing on Jul.30.2018.

The labourer and carpenter were convicted of operating the brothel and benefiting from two (deported) streetwalkers’ proceeds. The maid was convicted of prostitution and having affairs with the employee.

The Criminal Court sentenced them to four years plus deportation for human trafficking. It additionally imprisoned the maid and employee for six months for having affairs. The Appeals Court upheld the ruling.

On the record, the girl was in Dakar searching for a job. She had a phone conversation with the maid and learnt that a UAE-based family wanted a housemaid. The maid paid her passport processing fees.  The employee received her at the Dubai airport on May.3 last year, took her to his apartment and seized her documents. The maid gave her a pill to swallow and told her to prepare and escort her to work.

The maid took her to the brothel in Al Muhaisna. She refused to join flesh traders. The maid shouted threats and commanded her to obey the employee otherwise the employee would get her sent to jail.

The labourer started fetching clients, collecting proceeds and handing them to the maid. A source alerted the police. A cop posed as a client, paid Dhs100 to the labourer then signalled to the police team.