Ill-treated maids go criminal: Dubai cop

Delayed salaries another reason

dubai — Ill treatment is the main reason behind housemaids committing crime, a top Dubai Police official has said. Referring to the recent case of three children who were stabbed by an Ethiopian maid in Al Warqa recently, the officer said that the maid claimed she was ill treated by her employers.

Major-General Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation, said in a radio programme that it is “very difficult to imagine” such a violent crime being committed for no apparent reason. The maid, he said, claimed that she was not paid for three months and that her sponsor was “aggressive” with her, because of which she committed the crime.

The terrified Emirati children, who sustained serious injuries after the maid allegedly attacked them with a cleaver, locked themselves in the bathroom, from where one of them managed to call the police.

“When the police arrived, they found the maid in a bad condition. She cried a lot after she realised that she had assaulted the children and tired to kill them,” Al Mansouri said.

He called on families employing maids to let them go home if they request a leave. “Domestic workers are human beings after all.”

If a family assaults the maid or burdens her with too much work, nobody can predict how she will react

He referred to a recent Times report about a maid, who killed a baby for not being allowed to go on leave. “She killed the baby so that she would be allowed to go home.”

Al Mansouri called on women to take an active role in raising their children and to not entirely give that role to maids. Leaving children with maids alone, he said, encourages maids to commit crimes.

“A recent study by a special police team about the causes of maids committing crime revealed that ill treatment was the main cause, followed by delayed salaries.”

When choosing nannies, he said, families should go for someone with experience. “If an inexperienced nanny sees a child crying, she may hurt the baby to make him stop.”

Treating a maid well, he said, would encourage her to treat children well. “If a family assaults the maid or burdens her with too much work, nobody can predict how she will react.”