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28 March 2024

How life in prison turned a murderess into entrepreneur

She confessed that she killed the man. [Shutterstock]

Published
By Muna Ahmed

A Ukrainian woman who was involved in a murder case and sentenced to serve life term in Dubai Prisons has been armed with many skills and now she is looking forward to the day when she will leave the prison and start her own business back home.
 
Speaking to Emirates 24|7, the 42-year-old Ukrainian woman, who requested anonymity, said that her life has turned upside down in the past 15 years.
 
“I am serving life term for murder. I already spent 15 years in prison. When I first came here to Dubai Central Jails, I was thinking how will I spend all these years in this place where I have no friends or family. But now, I have many friends here in the prison, and they are good friends,” she said.
 
She pointed out that at Dubai Prisons, she had done many training courses in different fields such as computers, stitching, arts, hand crafts, accessories, and fashion design.
 
“I find myself more fit in fashion design industry. I am now a master in this and I train all other girls, especially new inmates on how to make clothes, and most importantly match the different colours to make attractive pieces and get perfect combinations. We enjoy this and the day passes by very quickly and we don’t feel the days and months passing by.”
 
She added that they earn good salaries from working on these things. “We earn good monthly salaries. This work keeps us busy all day so we don’t have time to think about the outside world . I am saving this money for the day when I finish my term and go back home to start my own fashion design shop in Ukraine.”
 
She pointed out that they receive good treatment from the staff and other inmates in Dubai Prisons. “This treatment is good. We are one big family here. We look after each other because most of us have no family or friends here.”
 
She added: “I committed a crime, and I regret it a lot. In the beginning, the feeling of regret was killing me. But now, I feel relieved. There is no point in feeling guilty. Better than the feeling of guilt, it is the feeling of improving myself and becoming  a better person.”