Maid accused of theft 'hadn't been paid'

DUBAI // A maid accused of stealing money and a mobile phone from her Emirati sponsor told a court today she had not been paid for three months.

"Yes I took the money, I told police, but this is my money, they didn't give me salary for three months," AA told the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance in broken Arabic. "I want to go home," she added.

The 25-year-old Ethiopian maid told Judge Hamad Abdul Latif that her sponsor had not paid her for more than three months and that she took only Dh700 - rather than the Dh1,700 she is accused of stealing.

FA, the maid's Emirati sponsor, 45, said that on the evening of March 28 last year, her daughter called her and informed her that AA was not in their house in Al Warqa. When FA returned home, she discovered that AA's passport was missing as well as Dh1,700 FA kept in her bedroom.

FA said the building security guard showed her surveillance camera recordings of AA leaving in a taxi carrying a large bag.

A verdict is expected this month.

salamir@thenational.ae