Drunk maid tried to stab love rival to death, Dubai court told

DP and an accomplice sprayed chilli pepper into the eyes of NS before dragging her to a stairwell and stabbing her in the head, chest and belly.

DUBAI // A drunk maid sprayed chilli pepper into the eyes of a woman who she suspected of stealing her boyfriend and then tried to stab her to death, a court heard.

D P, 28, from Nepal, and an accomplice attacked N S, 32, from Sri Lanka, before dragging her to a stairwell and stabbing her in the head, chest and stomach.

Prosecutors said the attack on April 2 this year was motivated by revenge as the Nepalese woman blamed the Sri Lankan, also a maid, for “stealing” her boyfriend.

The Sri Lankan said she met the Nepali at about 5.30pm outside the apartment building in Silicon Oasis where they both lived. The Nepali asked to use her phone but she refused, and carried on walking.

“She followed me inside then took me by surprise and started spraying my face and eyes with chilli pepper,” said the Sri Lankan.

The Nepali and her accomplice, N B, dragged the Sri Lankan by her hair into a lift and took her up to the eighth floor, pausing only to beat her with their fists.

When they arrived at the eighth floor they dragged her to the emergency exit stairwell and the accomplice bit the Sri Lankan on both arms while the Nepali produced a large knife from under her clothes and began stabbing her. N S sustained head, chest and stomach wounds.

“I screamed for help but no one heard me. I managed to escape down the stairs to the seventh floor and knocked on a door, but no one opened up,” said the Sri Lankan.

She managed to reach her own apartment, lock herself inside and call her sponsor before she lost consciousness.

As police arrived at the apartment they found blood in the corridor, clumps of hair that had been pulled from the Sri Lankan’s scalp and a pile of chilli pepper powder.

“I saw the victim on the floor bleeding heavily, her face and hair were filled with blood, she was also crying very hard,” said T A, a Yemeni policeman.

After explaining what had happened, the Sri Lankan was taken to Rashid Hospital. “I told police that the defendant was not normal when she attacked me. She must have been drunk,” said N S.

Officers then visited the Nepalese woman’s apartment.

“We knocked on her door and when she opened up her clothes were stained with blood,” said the lieutenant, adding that the Nepali confessed to stabbing the Sri Lankan because she had “stolen her Pakistani boyfriend”.

“She told me she intended to end the Sri Lankan’s life so took a big knife from her kitchen and waited for her downstairs,” said the lieutenant.

Prosecutors said that during interrogation the maid confessed to attempted murder.

She failed to appear at the Misdemeanours Court to face a charge of drinking alcohol without a licence.

A date has not yet been set for her first hearing at the Criminal Court on the charge of attempted murder.