Indian couple gets 10 years for torturing man’s mother

VICTIM DIED WEIGHING JUST 29KG AFTER BEING STARVED AND BEATEN

An Indian couple were sentenced to 10 years in jail yesterday for starving and torturing the man’s mother to death because she wasn’t looking after her granddaughter properly.

The abuse of the woman in her 50s, which took place in the couple’s Al Ghusais flat, ran from July 2018 until her death at Rashid Hospital in October 2018, by which time she weighed just 29-kg, after being starved.

A neighbour revealed that the wife had mentioned that her mother-in-law had come to stay with them from India to look after her granddaughter, but it was claimed by the woman that the grandmother wasn’t changing the girl’s nappies, which led to the girl becoming ill.

The same neighbour later saw the victim in the laundry room with burns on her body and informed the building’s watchman.

A paramedic later called to the scene testified that the man didn’t even help walk his mother into the ambulance.

A month later the woman died.

Aman and his wife, on trial for torturing and starving the man’s mother to death, were each sentenced to 10 years in jail, a Dubai court heard yesterday.

The 29-year-old defendant and his 28-year-old wife, both Indian, tortured the man’s mother inside their Al Ghusais residence, starving the victim until she weighed just 29kg, on the ground that she wasn’t looking after her granddaughter.

The man’s wife cried out in court when the verdict was heard and started shouting “I did nothing, I did nothing” before being led away by the guards.

According to Dubai Court of First Instance, the couple tortured the victim from July 2018, until her death in October 2018.

They have been both been ordered with deportation following their jail terms.

An Indian neighbour testified that she met the wife in the building and she had told her that her mother-in-law had come from India to look after their daughter, but she neglected the child and wasn’t changing the girl’s nappies, which caused the girl to become ill.

“After a few days, I was in the laundry area when I saw an elderly woman looking miserable and pitiful,” said the neighbour. “There were signs of burns on her body as she was wearing a sari. I asked her what happened, but she refused to answer and left,” added the neighbour. Soon after, the neighbour reported the woman’s condition to the building’s security guard who searched every apartment to find out where the woman was staying. When they reached the defendants’ flat they found the victim lying on the floor.

‘Crying in pain’

“The man was standing near her and he said that she was his mother. He claimed that she didn’t want to sleep on the bed,” said the neighbour. “I called for an ambulance as the woman was in critical condition. I tried to fix her clothes but her sari was stuck to her burned body and she was crying in pain,” added the neighbour.

The woman was transferred to Rashid Hospital, but she died a month later.

According to a forensic report, the man’s mother, who was in her 50s, suffered multiple burns and broken bones as a result of sustained torture and physical assault.

The verdict will be subject for appeal within 15 days.