Family of maid who was beaten to death accepts blood money, Abu Dhabi court hears

ABU DHABI // A woman accused of killing her maid should – if found guilty – be spared the death penalty because the victim’s family has accepted blood money instead, a court was told on Wednesday.

Emirati S M is on trial at the Criminal Court for allegedly beating the Indonesian woman to death with a wooden cane.

The husband of the defendant told the court that he had paid the maid’s back salary and end of service benefits to her family.

“We will also send them the blood money,” he said.

The chief justice told the husband that, although the blood money settlement is usually set at Dh200,000, the court had to issue the verdict first before he could pay.

S M denies murder, claiming the maid killed herself and had a history of trying to commit suicide by cutting her wrists.

S M also told the court that she had dismissed her lawyer as she did not need one anymore. The court, however, objected and said in murder cases it is compulsory to appoint a lawyer.

The judge said the verdict was still undecided, regardless of the victim’s family’s acceptance of money, and the case was adjourned until June 10.

The maid’s body was found in a bathtub with fractures to her head, broken teeth and bruises on her arms and legs.

On the day of her death, the defendant called her husband, who was in Oman, to say the maid was lying motionless in the bathtub.

After her arrest, S M admitted to police she had killed the maid in anger over her lazy attitude.

The husband was charged with assisting his wife as police were unsure if he was in Oman at the time. The charges against him were dropped before the case went to court.

hdajani@thenational.ae