A Nepalese maid has been referred by the Public Prosecution to the Court of Misdemeanours for allegedly causing burns to an eight-month-old girl. She has been charged with ‘assault on others’ safety’ under the Federal Penal Code.
Sami Al Shamsi, Advocate-General and Chief prosecutor of the Bur Dubai prosecution, said the child’s mother filed a complaint at the Bur Dubai police station recently in which she stated that the maid had been working for her for about a year and a half. She found burn marks on her baby’s left thigh as she was giving her a bath. She accused the maid of burning her with a hot tool.
The mother found out about the incident two days later and said, during investigation, that the maid was behaving awkwardly of late and would not let her bathe her baby. The maid would rather rush in to clean and bathe the baby herself, which was unusual.
During the prosecution investigation, which was conducted by Ahmed Youssef Al Ali, a senior prosecutor at the Bur Dubai prosecution, the maid said she caused burns on the child by mistake after she opened the tap for hot water instead of that for cold water. She rushed inside the bedroom and applied a cream on the baby’s thigh but the burn mark stayed.
The maid said she did not tell the girl’s mother about the incident because she was afraid of her abuse.
According to the forensic report, the baby sustained second degree burns which were caused by a contact with a hot solid object like an iron or a hot bowl.
Al Ali said: “The doctor ruled out that the injury might have been caused by hot water. No evidence has been found to hot water affecting other parts of her body. The injury was found only in one spot. Thus, the maid has been referred to the court on the charge of assault on others’ safety.”
Al Ali urged all parents to not ignore their children and leave them unattended with the domestic help. He also stressed the necessity to treat the domestic workers well and respect their rights and obligations. “At the end of the day, the domestic workers would take out their anger on the children of their employers and those children would then become victims of the ignorance and negligence of their parents.”
By Marie Nammour
