Ras Al Khaimah Police has arrested an Ethiopian housemaid suspected of murdering a Moroccan woman and her daughter in their home on Saturday.
The 21-year-old housemaid allegedly stabbed the 35-year-old woman about 70 times. She then locked the woman’s body along with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter in the bedroom of their apartment and set it on fire, police said.
Firefighters were alerted and managed to control the fire within a few minutes.
Lt-Col Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, Chief of the RAK CID, said the mother’s body had minor burns but was stabbed several times. The child had died of suffocation.
The victim’s husband, a UAE national, informed police that they had hired the housemaid just 10 days ago.
The housemaid, some money, gold and a mobile phone belonging to the victim were found missing after the incident.
The RAK CID arrested the suspect from her friend’s house in Sharjah within 24 hours.
During interrogation, the housemaid confessed to the crime and admitted that she did it because her employer was very abusive. She admitted to stabbing the victim with a knife after a scuffle when her employer threatened to sack her.