Woman behind bars for killing her baby born out of wedlock in Dubai
- Last updated: May 23, 2022 | 18:34
Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter
A girl from a Central Asian country, 28, intentionally and premeditated killed her baby 15 minutes after he was born and kept his body inside a bag for three days before trying to dispose of it in a waste container.
The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced her to five years in jail to be followed by deportation. The Court of Appeal, however, increased the jail term to seven years and upheld the deportation order.
The case dates back to May 2020, when a young man reported to the police that a girl was trying to dispose of the body of a baby by throwing it into a garbage dump.
He stated that the girl was living in a room of a share apartment in Al Riqqa area, adding that three days before he submitted his report, he heard the girl, who was apparently pregnant, crying in pain as if going into labour.
The girl’s pain stopped after a while and he could hear a baby crying, he said, adding that after around 15 minutes, no sounds could be heard in the room.
Three days later, he saw the girl carrying a bag in the outer corridor of the building and tried to help her when she asked him to throw the bag in another area, he said.
He ordered a taxi and asked the girl to return to the apartment, telling her that he would get rid of the bag in another area.
Another witness stated in the public prosecution’s investigations that he heard the girl crying in pain and heard later a baby crying.
He decided to wait until the girl would ask him for help but as the baby stopped crying a few minutes later, he decided to enter the girl’s room while she was out.
There, he found a blood-stained blanket and the body of a baby, he said, adding that he talked about what he saw to his neighbour, who reported the incident to the police.
A policeman stated that the girl, 28, was arrested and confessed that she had an affair with a guy some nine month earlier and consequently got pregnant.
Several days before she was arrested and while she was in her residence in Al Riqqa area, she gave birth to a baby, she said, adding that she put the baby who was crying on the bed and put a pillow on his face until he died.
She kept the body of her baby in her room for three days, after which she put the body in a bag with some garments and decided to throw the bag in a waste container, she said.
At this point, her neighbour offered to help her with the bag and they both took a taxi before he asked her to return to her room and he would throw the bag, she said, adding that she returned to her room but after few minutes the police came and arrested her.