Absconding maid left baby alone in house, Dubai court hears

A maid left her sponsor’s 10-month-old baby alone in an apartment and absconded after stealing jewellery and cash, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

DUBAI // A maid locked a 10-month-old baby in an apartment by himself, with the stove on, after she ran off with stolen jewellery and cash, a court has heard.

On November 1, 2011, the Indonesian maid’s Egyptian employer, 33, left the flat in the Gardens to pick up her son from school while the maid stayed with the baby.

An hour later the mother returned home to find the door locked. When she entered the flat the maid, 30, was gone.

“I found food on the stove boiling and my baby in his room,” she said. “Thank God he was sleeping. I looked in my room and found she stole cash, a gold ring and a shoes.

“I don’t care about what she stole but I care about my baby. What if he woke up and crawled to the kitchen and something bad happened to him? That is very dangerous.”

The maid stole €200, 5,000 Egyptian pounds, a gold ring worth Dh2,570 and the shoes.

At Dubai Criminal Court, she confessed to theft and endangering a child’s life.

A verdict is expected on November 27.