Dubai: A Dubai-based expatriate woman has been sentenced to seven years in jail for murdering her newborn, just 15 minutes after the delivery.
Dubai Courts heard that the 28-year-old woman had an illegal affair with a stranger. She delivered a baby girl in her room in a shared apartment in the Al Muraqqabat area of Dubai.
According to records, a tenant at the shared accommodation reported the incident to Dubai Police after the woman put the body of her baby in a black bag and asked him to dump it in the trash bin. “She looked pregnant. I could hear her in pain and after a few minutes heard the cry of a baby. Thereafter, about 15 minutes later, it was all silent. Three days later, I saw her in the corridor, carrying a big black bag wrapped in plastic. She told me to dump the bag in the garbage bin, claiming that the bag belonged to her friend,” said the witness on record. He carried the bag downstairs with her, but she told him to throw it away from the building.
Smothering the baby
“She stopped a taxi and I went along with her. Later, I opened the bag and found the body of a newborn in it.”
The mother was arrested by Dubai Police. She admitted to smothering the newborn with a pillow. She told police officers that she had a sexual affair with a man and become pregnant. “She said she delivered the baby in her room. When the newborn started crying, she put a pillow on her face and pressed it hard until she died. She kept the body in the room for three days,” said a policeman on record.
The woman then shoved the body in a bag, along with a cloth, and decided to dump the body in the trash bin. A medical report confirmed that she was under the influence of drugs. A medical report also revealed that the baby was born alive, but sustained major fractures in her chest and skull, causing her to bleed to death.
Mentally fit
The woman’s lawyer asked for doctors’ opinions about the mental health of his client, but a medical report confirmed that she was mentally fit and responsible for her actions. The woman was charged with premeditated murder and consumption of illegal substances.
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The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the woman to five years in jail, but the Dubai Court of Appeals increased the verdict to seven years in jail. She will be deported after serving her jail term. She has also been referred to the Court of Misdemeanours on the charge of consuming an illegal substances.
