Maid nabbed for selling love child for Dh10,000
Dubai — A housemaid was caught red-handed trying to sell her love child for Dh10,000 to an undercover policewoman. On Wednesday, she was charged in the Dubai Court of First Instance with human trafficking.
The 30-year-old Ethiopian mother had claimed that a 28-yearold maid had helped her in trying to sell the newborn baby girl. The accomplice has also been charged with human trafficking.
The baby’s father, who is at large, has been referred to the Court of Misdemeanors along with the maid on an illicit sex charge.
The first maid denied the charge, claiming she was in desperate need for money as she was staying in the country illegally. The other maid denied the charges.
A police lieutenant said: “We had reliable information that an Ethiopian woman had been trying to sell her two-week old baby for Dh10,000. We sent a policewoman to meet the maid as a potential buyer.”
During the interrogation, the first maid said she arrived in the UAE about five years earlier. She worked for an Emirati family for 10 months before she absconded. She worked illegally after that. She met an Emirati man and lived with him. When she got pregnant, he left her “in the street” after giving her Dh500. She asked him later to provide for his daughter.
The baby’s father’s ex-wife said she heard on August 28, 2017, that her ex had a daughter with a maid out of wedlock and the latter wanted to get rid of her. “I was worried that something bad might happen to the baby. I met the maid and then took the baby to a clinic in Ajman to check on her health. I informed the police when the maid told me she would give her to me for an amount of money. I just wanted to take the child to take care of her and raise her, not buy her,” said the 43-yearold housewife.
The maid was later caught redhanded by the police in Al Qusais and the money was found with her. The other housemaid, who was caught with the main defendant, said she only went with her on the day she offered to sell her child.
Both housemaids have been placed in detention.
mary@khaleejtimes.com