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29 March 2024

Babysitter on trial in Dubai for suffocating 11-month-old infant to death

Published

A babysitter allegedly killed her employer’s 11-month-old daughter in revenge for not being allowed her to go home after her mother died, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

On January 18, while the employer VK, 36, British housewife of Indian origin, was outside her house, she got a phone call from her sister telling her that her daughter, who was in the custody of babysitter RT, 29, Indian, is in a bad condition.

“I reached home in about 10 minutes. The babysitter was holding the little girl who was not moving or making any sound. I called to my daughter but she did not respond. I took the little girl to Zulekha Hospital where I was told that she had passed away two hours earlier.

”The babysitter was holding the baby while I was driving to the hospital accompanied by my son. The doctor said my daughter may have suffocated while having milk or something similar. However,  I learnt from the police later that the babysitter had suffocated her,” VK told investigators.

A police complaint was lodged and policemen were rushed to the hospital in Al Nahda at around 9pm.The mother of the little girl told police that the babysitter had called her at around 6pm to say that the infant was having difficulty in breathing. Doctors said the little girl had passed away at around 11am of the same day.

Police was suspicious of the death of the infant. Forensic tests proved that the victim had been suffocated. Confronting the babysitter with the forensic report, she admitted to suffocating her with a scarf and her hand.

“My employer had left the house at around 3pm and I was alone with the little girl. I brought a scarf and wrapped it around the baby’s neck and blocked her mouth and nose with my hand until she died. Then I went to the hall and played with my employer’s four-year-old son. After that, I went to the bedroom and I was sure that the baby is dead. I called my employer and told her that the baby is having breathing difficulties and that her condition is abnormal,” the babysitter admitted.

She said she suffocated the child to be able to go home. She said she could not travel because the employer could not find another babysitter.

The forensic lab reported that the child was suffocated by a piece of cloth that had been wrapped around her neck and pulled strongly. Bruises on the inner side of the lips and the chin and nail scratches on the eyelids were noted, proving that the killer had pressed on the mouth of the victim.

The devastated parents of the little girl told police that the babysitter was very good and that the children loved her. The police asked them if the babysitter had asked for their permission to travel home. The mother answered ‘yes’ and said RT had wanted to go home about a month earlier after her mother died. “We had asked her to wait until her residency formalities are completed,” said the parents of the dead child.

The babysitter denied premeditated murder when she appeared before the court. She told the jury presided by Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi that there was a scarf on the child’s shoulders when she put her to bed. “I did not kill her.  How I could do such a thing when I am myself a mother?” the babysitter said.

The parents assured police that they had treated the accused very well and that they considered her a member of the family. They tried to ask her outside the courtroom why she had killed their daughter but police prevented them.