Dubai maid gets suspended jail

A housemaid, who was caught when trying to sell a gold ring she had stolen from a house, has been given a suspended jail term of three months.

The Court of First Instance heard the 33-year-old Filipina maid, who works for a cleaning services firm, tried to sell a gold ring worth Dh8,000 at a jewellery shop. However, the salesman alerted the Naif police. The housemaid earlier pleaded guilty to a theft charge in court. She will be deported.

The case dates back to March.

"I got a call from the police asking me whether I had lost a ring. I told them I could not remember but when I saw the picture of the ring they sent to me on WhatsApp, I knew it belonged to me. It was a gift I received from my aunt nine years ago. It is worth about Dh9,000," the 32-year-old British complainant told the prosecutor.

The accused admitted during investigation that while she was assigned to clean the complainant's house, she stole a ring and kept it. She decided to sell it at the Gold Souq in Naif. But she was apprehended at the shop.

The maid has also been involved in another case of theft in which she was accused of stealing a ring from a French woman. She also admitted the charge in court. "I hired the maid through a cleaning services office. She worked for four hours and left. However, on April 27, the police summoned me to check a ring. It belonged to me and she had stolen it while at my place in Al Barsha," the 30-year-old French woman said. The rings were seized from the maid.

Source: .khaleej Times