ABU DHABI // A family feud ended up in the courtroom on Monday with a mother appealing against her conviction for verbally and physically assaulting her own daughter.
W S, from Egypt, had also filed a counter lawsuit against her child S S, an Emirati, for the same charges.
Both had been convicted by the Court of First Instance and given one-month suspended sentences.
On Monday, W S told the Court of Appeal that S S had been continually harassing and insulting her since 2005.
In the latest incident, S S, 30, and her father, whom W S was divorced from, visited W S’s house.
They sat in the front yard and shouted insults at W S. When the mother tried to stop them leaving, S S attacked her with a knife, cutting her fingers and legs.
“Then my eldest daughter called the ambulance and we filed a police report,” said W S.
She denied insulting or hitting S S.
“She was the one who was always insulting and attacking me, I don’t even talk to her anymore,” she said.
“She threatens to kick me out of the house and get me deported, so she keeps filing police reports against me.”
W S said S S had filed seven lawsuits against her so far.
“Even after the last verdict was announced she complained again against me again, but the case was dropped by prosecutors,” said W S.
She pleaded with the court to annul the one-month suspended sentence handed to her by the Court of First Instance. “She will continue to accuse me and one of these times I might have to serve the sentence.”
W S explained that she had divorced S S’s father, an Emirati, when her seven children were still young.
“So I went to Sheikh Zayed’s diwan and I was granted a house in Bani Yas, but under the name of my children because they are UAE citizens and I am not.”
She added that her daughter was determined that she leave the house.
“I have three children who are still not married and I am responsible for them,” she said.
S S was the second oldest of her offspring.
As well as her suspended sentence, W S was also fined Dh2,000 for the verbal insults and Dh2,000 for the physical attack.
S S was also given a Dh7,000 fine for damaging her sister’s car and the doors to her mother’s home.
S S was not present in court yesterday.
The judge adjourned the case until June 9.
“If you reconcile with your daughter before then, please notify the court,” he said.
hdajani@thenational.ae
