Sharjah police rescue newborn from cleaver attack

Police have rescued a seven-month-old baby from a hysterical maid who was threatening to kill the infant with a meat cleaver.

SHARJAH // Police rescued a seven-month-old from a “hysterical” maid who was threatening to kill the infant with a cleaver.

A neighbour heard screams coming from a flat in Muwaileh in the early hours of Saturday and called police.

Officers arrived at the scene and found the hysterical maid holding a cleaver and threatening the baby.

The woman, from Ethiopia, was incoherent and had trashed the flat, police said.

The child’s parents left the baby with the maid, who was working illegally, officers said.

Police arrested the maid and launched an investigation. The child was unhurt.

Col Ibrahim Al Ajil, acting director of the Criminal Investigation Department at Sharjah Police, said: “Residents don’t report incidents that happen with illegal maids, due to the legal problems that the employer has to face.”

He urged residents not to leave children with maids for long periods of time.

In August, Sharjah Police apprehended 39 runaway maids who were working illegally, and sharing one apartment.