JEDDAH — The public prosecutor has demanded the death sentence for a businesswoman who allegedly tortured her maid to death.
A source from the Criminal Court said the court is considering to slap the death sentence on the businesswoman.
“The woman's husband is accused of abusing his sponsorship rights and violating a human trafficking law, which states sponsors must provide medical treatment for their expatriates if needed. The woman is currently in prison awaiting the final verdict,” said the source.
The source said the husband claimed that he had recruited the maid a few years ago but she had escaped from their household.
“The husband said the bruises were caused by the maid falling off the window in her attempt to sneak into the house. The businesswoman denied ever beating the maid or abusing her. She said the maid was already skinny when she came to their house,” said the source.
The source said the maid was admitted to a local hospital and reports showed signs of bruises and abuse on her body.
“She was severely underweight. She weighed only 30 kg. The businesswoman's other maid testified that the woman had beat the deceased maid with a stick and starved her resulting in the poor health, which caused her death. The maid stayed in the hospital for a week before her death and the doctors tried everything to save her but she succumbed,” said the source.
The source said the businesswoman claimed the maid was a drug addict in her home country and had caused her and her husband many problems due to her addiction.
“The businesswoman and her husband are now under arrest, awaiting for the court to issue its final verdict,” said the source.
The prosecutor said the businesswoman should face the death sentence for her brutality and the husband must face penalties for his inhumane acts. The case was one of the cruelest incidents involving housemaids in the Kingdom.
A Yemeni national was executed in Yanbu last August after he was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering two Asian housemaids in separate cases.
Awdah Salem, dubbed in the local media as “the Yanbu serial killer”, was also found guilty of pouring acid on the body of one of the victims and hiding the remains of both women at different locations.
Salem confessed in court that he had persuaded one of the two maids to run away with him in 2007. He killed her after a sexual encounter, and threw her body into an abandoned well 18 km north of Yanbu. The crime had gone unnoticed at the time.
The defendant then admitted that he had lured another maid to elope with him to a deserted place. He hit her on the head with a rock after having sexual relations with her and buried the body on a beach in the Yanbu industrial area in 2008.
Police had been notified of the presence of a body along the beach a few days later, but only managed to track down the killer following months of investigation.
The man had impersonated a Saudi for several years, moving around with forged documents. Evidence also revealed that the man used to abuse his wife and children.
While issuing the verdict, the court described the man's crimes as “evil,” “gruesome” and “inhumane.”
