DUBAI // A maid accused of trying to murder her sleeping employer with a hammer was upset at not being paid for a year and a half, but did not mean to kill her, a court heard today.
YB, 28, from Indonesia, shattered the jaw of mother-of-two YA in the attack before raining blows across her body and trying to strangle her. She stopped only when, by chance, her employer's husband returned home and restrained her.
The maid told the Criminal Court that she was upset on the morning of the attack because of her unpaid wages and was not aware of what she was doing. She insisted that she did not mean to kill the woman.
The night before the attack the maid had overheard her employers talking about cancelling her visa. The next morning - November 19 - when the husband took his son to school the maid attacked his wife with the hammer.
"I was then awoken by a strong blow to the left side of my head which broke my jaw," recalled the mother.
She said the maid hit her with the hammer all over her body, despite her fierce resistance. The maid then pulled her to the corner of the room where she tried to strangle her and prevent her from screaming.
"My 18-month-old baby walked into the room and as I saw her I feared for her and resisted harder. I managed to push the maid to the corridor and pull the hammer out of her hand," said the mother, adding that the maid then tried to strangle her again.
At this point the mother's husband returned and saw the maid strangling his wife. "When I entered I saw my wife bleeding from the head and face while the maid was assaulting her," said the 35-year-old husband AM. He pulled the maid away from his wife and restrained her while neighbours called police.
"She was bleeding and had injuries and scratches all over her face, her jaw was hanging and she couldn't speak or drink water" said AA, a Libyan woman living next door to the mother.
The mother was taken to Rashid Hospital. The case was adjourned to April 29.
salamir@thenational.ae
