Mother ‘caused death of her toddler by violently stamping on his stomach’

Emirati woman denies causing her son's death, telling the Dubai court that he was sick, but her maid says the mother was often violent to her child.

DUBAI // A mother killed her 14-month-old son by stamping violently on his stomach, a court heard.

The 33-year-old Emirati denied a charge of premeditated murder on her first appearance at Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday.

“I didn’t kill him,” she said. “I have other children that I raised and I even raised my sisters and brothers.

“I didn’t kill him, he was sick and we have been to many places seeking treatment for him.”

Prosecutors allege she stamped on the baby’s stomach so violently the child later died of his injuries in hospital.

Her maid, a 46-year-old Indonesian, said: “She was treating the baby mercilessly, shoving the spoon into his mouth and throwing him on the bathroom floor naked to bathe him.

“Once I walked in on her to see she was pressing with great strength on his stomach and, when she noticed me, she stopped.”

The alleged assault that led to the baby’s death happened on July 16 last year at the mother’s home in Al Qusais, Dubai. She took her child to the Saudi-German Hospital for treatment, where he died.

Doctors alerted police. The maid said the child would cry constantly at night, and his mother would not attempt to calm him.

“The only time I wouldn’t hear him crying are the times when his father was home,” the maid said.

The defendant’s sister said she often saw bruises and scratches on the child’s face and neck.

“Once, I noticed a bruise under his eye and, when I touched it, I discovered the bruise was dark blue but covered with make-up,” she said. Her sister used to tie the baby’s legs with a headscarf, she told the court.

A doctor working at the Saudi-German Hospital said the baby had been treated for a number of serious injuries.

“I had been following up on the child since he was one month old,” said the Egyptian.

“He came to the hospital four times: the first he suffered from a brain haemorrhage; the second time he suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting; then a fractured thigh bone.

“On October 2, 2015, he was brought in with a fractured skull. He was treated from all that and discharged.”

A medical report found the child died because of internal bleeding in the abdomen caused by violent pressure, which damaged his intestines.

The case was adjourned until February 11.