Bicycle fall did not lead to Maya's death: doctor

The dentist neighbour who was the first medical professional to check on the 4-year-old Maya, who was allegedly battered to death by her stepmother, told the Dubai Criminal Court that the fall from the bicycle could not have led to her death.

GM, 47, a Syrian dentist was rushed to the house to check on the little girl after falling from her old bicycle.

“The girl was sitting on a sofa, she had a disturbed consciousness. Checking on her, I noticed a minor bruise in the girl’s head... there was no fracture in the skull. However, the girl’s skin was yellow, and her lips were blue... she was very cold and going unconscious for some minutes... her iris was not responding to light.

"The change of her colour and coldness prove that the girl had internal bleeding that could not be of the head injury, which was very minor. Her condition could not be sustained from falling from a cycle. I asked the family to rush the girl to a hospital,” testified the neighbour.

"I went with the family to the hospital and a paediatric doctor provided her with first aid. He pressed on her chest for a couple of times before giving her oxygen.

The dentist refuted that the aid provided at the hospital could have caused the little girl injuries and internal bleeding in the belly as the lawyer was trying to claim in his client's defence."

The jury listened again to the forensic doctor who responded to and comment on a medical consultation report. The forensic doctor insisted that the internal bleeding could alone have caused the girl’s death.

“Having 500ml of blood in her belly is not a minimal amount... she could have continued bleeding until she died... however, the head injuries that caused brain oedema (swelling) had expedited her death because it negatively affected the functioning of vital organs. In addition to that, the girl sustained injuries at different sides of the brain that could not have been caused by one fall from the bicycle,” assured the forensic doctor.

The husband of the accused RM, 38, bank employee, testified that the emergency doctor had pressed with his fingers on his daughter’s belly while his palms were around her back.

“Maya had a very tiny body ... the doctor have put his two palms around her back and with his thumbs pressed on her belly... this could have caused her injuries in her belly,” said the father defending his 24-year-old second wife.

His second wife, OY, had been at home with the children for about seven months before the incident.

Responding to queries about beating the children or the victim, the father said that he did notice anything like that.

“My daughter never complained about my wife,” said the father told the jury.

The court will reconvene on July 9 for defence.
 
Case Background

A 24-year-old Jordanian housewife allegedly assaulted her four-year-old step daughter to death. The girl sustained head and stomach injuries and her death was caused due to internal bleeding in both her head and belly.
 
According to the records, the little girl, Maya, and her siblings were in their father's custody following their parents' divorce. The mother AJ, 36, is also a Jordanian and a nurse by profession.
 
On January 30, AJ received a call from her ex-husband asking her to arrive at the emergency department of NMC hospital where he had rushed their daughter who was in a bad condition after falling down.

“By the time I arrived at the hospital, my daughter had already died. When I asked about the reason of her death I was told that she had fallen from the cycle,” the mother told investigators.

However, the mother was not convinced with the cause and pointed at her ex-husband's wife and accused the woman of ill-treating her children, especially the youngest one, the deceased.

“I also noticed traces of assault in different parts of my daughter’s body,” the mother told investigators.

Earlier, on the day when the incident took place, the neighbour, GM, 47, a Syrian dentist was rushed to the house to check on the little girl who was unconscious.

“I noticed a minor bruise in the girl’s head... there was no fracture in the skull. However, the girl’s skin was yellow, and her lips were blue... she was very cold and unconscious... her iris was not responding to light. These symptoms prove that the girl was subject to injuries other than the one on the head. These injuries could not be sustained from falling from a cycle. I asked the family to rush the girl to a hospital,” testified the neighbour.

The stepmother called her husband and asked for his permission to rush his daughter to the hospital.

The family’s Ethiopian maid, ST,28, told investigators that she had been working for the family for two months and on the day of the accident, her employer asked her for the first time of her service to prepare food.

The accused took the three children to her room and accompanied the youngest to give her a bath, said the maid.

“I could hear the little girl crying badly... I think she was beating her. My employer treats children differently in front of their father. For the first time I also saw my employer watching the children playing. After I finished preparing food, I excused myself to take my off day according to the agreement,” the maid told investigators.

The other maid, IS, 24, also an Ethiopian told investigators that she had worked for the family for about four years-and-a-half when the children's mother was in the house.

IS, worked for only two months after the arrival of the father’s new wife.

“When the accused came to the family, I noticed that she was cruel to the children. She used to beat and bite them for trivial reasons.  She also used to make them eat on the floor in the absence of their father. She used to over feed the little one until she would vomit and then force her to eat what she had vomited. She also used to mention that she hates the little one because she looks like her mother and because she was the nearest to her father’s heart."

The elder girl ‘Raneem’ told the maid that their stepmother used to lock them in the room and beat and bite them, especially Maya.

“She asked me to tell their father about the ill-treatment of their stepmother... I told her that I cannot do that as their father was always in disputes with her,” the maid told investigators.
 
Because her step-children liked me, she separated me from them.

“She did that to take revenge without any supervision,” the family’s former maid told the police.

The victim’s 10-year-old elder sister, Raneem, told investigators that on the day of the incident she was playing with her other sister Rand and her friend Samar in the building’s corridor in front of their flat.

“After a while, my stepmother came and put my little sister, Maya on an old and out of work big cycle. This was the first time she had done this. All of a sudden, my sister fell on the back... her head did not hit the wall that was in front.  My stepmother could have held her, but she did not... she took her in and put some ice on her head. After about half-an-hour, my sister lost consciousness and her face colour changed and she closed her eyes,” the victim’s sister told investigators.

She also said that the stepmother asked the girl to request their neighbour, the dentist, to check the girl.

“The neighbour came and after checking my sister he asked her to rush her to the nearest hospital,” said Raneem who also told investigators.

“She used to take my little sister to the bathroom claiming to give her a bath and then she used to beat and bite her. I used to hear her crying and after she would come out, I used to notice assault traces on her body,” said Raneem.
 
Forensic evidence

The forensic report stated the girl’s death was not a natural death.

It reported that the cause of death were injuries in the belly, the back and the head that led to massive internal bleeding.

In addition to that, the swelling in the brain expedited the death.

The victim was beaten by hands, legs, and a hard tool. The injuries could not have resulted from head injuries sustained during a fall from a cycle as the accused reported.

There were numerous injuries on the victim’s head - in the forehead, back head and the right side of the head.

The injuries and bruises on the body also could not have resulted from one fall from a cycle.

The report also mentioned nail scratches in the victim’s ear, shoulder and neck. There were also traces of teeth marks on her arm.

Forensic reported that the victim had been subject to brutal physical assault, which led to her death.

After taking necessary laboratory examinations, forensic investigators concluded that the victim was most likely bitten by the accused.

The stepmother denied the accusations when she first appeared before the court.

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