ABU DHABI // The verdict against a Filipina sentenced to death for killing her employer in Al Ain will be issued by the Court of Appeals this month.
Jennifer Dalquez, 28, from General Santos City in the southern Philippines, was sentenced to death by an Al Ain court in May 2015.
She claimed to have stabbed her Emirati employer in self-defence because he tried to rape her on December 7, 2014.
A verdict will be issued on February 27.
“We respect the judicial system of the UAE, and trust that court will have a comprehensive appreciation of the case,” said Constancio Vingno Jr, the Philippine ambassador to the UAE.
“We hope people will refrain from any public discussions that can have a negative outcome on her case.”
The decision would either uphold or overturn the death sentence issued by the lower court.
Mr Vingno, who met with the mother-of-two in prison on February 8, assured her that the embassy would continue extending all possible assistance.
In January 2015, the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi provided Dalquez with a defence lawyer to appeal against her sentence. Overseas Filipino workers who find themselves on the wrong side of the law are helped through their government’s legal assistance fund.
Mr Vingno’s comments follow an appeal made on Sunday in Manila by senator Cynthia Villlar.
The senator, who filed a bill seeking the creation of a separate department for Filipino migrants, urged Manila’s foreign affairs department to step up its efforts to provide Dalquez with all possible assistance to be spared from execution.
“We cannot and should not allow the execution of yet another innocent OFW [overseas Filipino worker],” Ms Villar was quoted as saying by online news portal InterAksyon on Sunday.
Last month, Jakatia Pawa, 44, a Filipina maid in Kuwait, was executed after being convicted of killing her employer's daughter .
Dalquez has spent more than two years behind bars while the case is being heard. She had worked in the UAE since 2011. She was due to return home in January 2015.
rruiz@thenational.ae
