Killer of 4-month-old baby sent from gallows to shrink

An appeals court in Abu Dhabi decided to send an Asian housemaid to the psychiatrist for examination after she was formerly sentenced to death on charges of murdering a four-month-old girl, newspapers reported on Thursday.

The maid had been sentenced to death by a court of first instance and the verdict was upheld by an appeals court before it was overturned by a court of cassation due to the absence of a lawyer for the defendant.

The court of cassation ordered a retrial of the maid, who denied in fresh hearings she had killed the baby while her mother was at work.

The baby’s mother told court on Wednesday that cameras planted in her house showed the maid carried her daughter into her room while her mother was asleep and returned her four minutes later. She said her mother then phoned her and asked her to return home urgently after noticing the baby was not moving.

The plaintiff said one film showed the baby’s head banged into a cupboard, causing her to cry, adding that the maid then laid her on the settee in the sitting room.

She told court that she rushed her daughter to hospital, where doctors managed to resuscitate her after her heart stopped for a while.

“Doctors then told me my daughter is clinically dead because of a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage…three weeks later, my daughter died,” she told court.

Newspapers said the judge adjourned hearings to July 10 to allow for a psychiatric examination of the defendant.

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