Housewife who tried to kill her two sons pleads not guilty

24-year-old tells judge she does not recall her actions, including why she tried to kill herself

Ahousewife accused of trying to kill her two sons before attempting suicide pleaded not guilty in court yesterday, telling the judge that she could not recall the incident.

The 24-year-old Bangladeshi mother is on trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance facing charges of attempting to suffocate her children, aged two and four, and trying to kill herself.

“I do not know what I did, what happened and why I did it. I also do not know why I tried to kill myself,” she told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

Asked by judge Omar if she suffered from any mental illness, the woman said: “I don’t know. I haven’t been treated.”

“Where are your children and your husband? Have you been divorced?” the judge asked. “My elder son is better and at home, while the twoyear-old remains in hospital. We are still married and my husband is at home,” she said.

The woman’s 39-year-old husband, also Bangladeshi, had found his two sons motionless on their bed when he returned from work in April 2017. He also found his wife motionless on the floor with her wrist slit.

He called his brother for help and rushed the mother and children to hospital where doctors managed to save their lives.

When the father and brother questioned the woman, she allegedly told them that she had suffocated her children with a pillow before slitting her wrist.

Her husband told prosecutors that he used his spare key to enter the house since nobody answered when he knocked.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that the woman claimed that she tried to suffocate her children with a pillow.

The court will appoint a lawyer to defend the accused when it reconvenes on April 23.