Maid's killer pays diya to family

A woman from another Gulf country convicted by an Abu Dhabi court of murdering her Asian housemaid has paid diya (blood money) to the victim’s relatives after they agreed to pardon the defendant, newspapers reported on Thursday.

Payment of diya will save the defendant from the gallows or any sentence associated with the murder unless she faces other charges.

The unnamed woman was convicted of premeditated murder and forcing her maid to work for other families although the defence lawyer had tried to rebuff all the charges.

Court records showed the Gulf woman killed the maid in the bathroom and dragged her to the sitting room. The woman confessed to the crime but the defence lawyer tried to argue that she made the confession under duress.

Newspapers said the judge is to issue a final sentence on Sept 30 but did not mention how much the defendant paid in blood money.