AL AIN // A Filipina maid who was handed the death penalty for killing her Emirati employer in December 2014 had her sentence reduced to five years in prison by an Al Ain court.
Jennifer Dalquez, 30, from General Santos City in the southern Philippines, was sentenced to death in May 2015 for stabbing her employer.
The woman said she had acted in self-defence after the man tried to rape her on December 7, 2014.
On Monday, the Al Ain Appeals Court acquitted her of murder, but she was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing her employer’s mobile phone. She is expected to be released after 15 months because of the time she has already served.
“This is good news, especially for her family, who were able to visit her twice,” said Constancio Vingno Jr, Philippine ambassador to the UAE.
Dalquez’s parents were not present when the verdict was issued, but they were informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
“Justice has been served,” said Mr Vingno on Tuesday, who met the mother of two in prison on February 8. “We have abided by the rule of law of the UAE.
“We followed all the procedures, in the same way that we expect our judicial system should work. And in this particular case, the system works.”
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.
The maid has been behind bars while her case was being heard. She had worked in the UAE since 2011 and had been scheduled to return home in January 2015.
“Migrante UAE joins the Filipino community around the world in rejoicing after Jennifer Dalquez’s aquittal,” said Nhel Morona, country coordinator of Migrante Middle East, an international migrant rights group.
“We would like to thank the UAE Government, through its judiciary, for sparing her the death penalty.
“Her victory is a victory for all Filipino migrants and their families. We hope Mary Jane Veloso, who is also facing a death sentence in Indonesia, will share the same fate.”
Veloso is a Filipina drug convict facing execution in Indonesia. Her case focused international attention on Indonesia’s capital punishment and drug prohibition laws.
In April 2015, she was granted a last-minute reprieve after her alleged recruiters surrendered.
rruiz@thenational.ae
