Maid accused of burning and knifing employer’s children to face attempted murder charge

The maid is said to have committed the act on the Emirati children – girls aged 16 and 14 and a boy aged 12 – after her employer refused to let her travel home.

DUBAI // An Ethiopian maid who is accused of burning three children and attacking them with a meat cleaver will face an attempted murder charge, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The maid is said to have assaulted the Emirati children – girls aged 16 and 14 and a boy aged 12 – after her employer refused to let her travel home.

The children are believed to have locked themselves in a bathroom at their home in Al Warqa, and one of them called police.

Police said the maid tried to commit suicide after the attack.

The emirate’s attorney general, Essam Al Humaidan, has supervised the investigations since the case was referred to prosecutors two days ago.

A prosecution statement said the Ethiopian woman had planned the crime, boiling water and getting a meat cleaver before pouring the water over the children and attacking them with the large blade.

Mr Al Humaidan said the maid had confessed to the crime during interrogations and said her motive was that her sponsor had refused to cancel her residency visa and send her home, despite her not wanting to work in the UAE any more.

He said she managed to obtain her passport and was about to flee, but police arrived before she could run away.