DUBAI // A 61-year-old woman has been sentenced to seven years in jail after being found guilty of starving her maid to death.
The Emirati was convicted of locking up and starving the Indonesian woman, whose age was not in court records, to death in September last year.
Dubai Criminal Court was told the employer fitted locks to all of the doors, cupboards, drawers and even the fridge in her home, and installed a fence on top of the garden wall and iron bars on the windows of her villa to prevent the maid from running away.
In September last year the woman’s sister called police after finding the maid’s body at the woman’s home in Bur Dubai.
“When we arrived we found the dead body on the floor inside her room. Although there was a bed, she was fully dressed and in her hijab and the room was tidy and clean. The defendant was very nervous,” said an Emirati Police Lieutenant.
The officer said he became suspicious after finding a blood trail on the stairs. “We asked the defendant what happened. She said the maid fell and refused to answer any of our questions, she told us not to ask her anything.”
Police records revealed several complaints had been lodged against the employer in the past for abuse of maids and several women had absconded from her employment.
A report had been submitted to the Naturalisation and Residency Department requesting she be banned from employing maids, the court was told.
A 29-year-old policeman said when he searched the villa he found every door, cabinet, drawer and even the fridge locked.
“Whenever we wanted to open a drawer or a cabinet, the woman would reach for a big key chain in her pocket. She kept repeating that it was private property and she needed to protect it,” said the officer.
A coroner said the maid was beaten before starving to death.
“She starved to death and she was subjected to severe beating, the examination showed that she was apparently given some food to prevent her death but since the condition was severe the attempt failed to save her life.”
The woman denied all charges. The court’s verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
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8.15pm Benbatl
8.50pm Zakouski
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Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
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