Manama: An Ethiopian domestic help was arrested in Saudi Arabia after attempting to behead a three-year old boy.
The help who started working with the family only five days prior to the incident reportedly attempted to kill the child as he was sleeping, using a knife to try to sever his head and to stab him several times.
“She was not properly qualified to do the house chores and she was constantly mumbling words,” sources told Saudi news site Sabq.
“The helper wanted to cut his head off, but as he started to scream she stabbed him on the face and the back,” the sources said.
“Within minutes, the mother, alerted by the child’s cries, rushed into the room and tried to wrestle the knife off the helper’s hand. After a scuffle, the mother was able to overpower the helper and remove the knife. She then took her child and walked outside to the street where she asked for help. A driver took them to hospital where the child was rescued by the medical staff,” the sources said.
A relative confirmed the account, adding that the attempted crime occurred on Friday evening at the home of the helper’s sponsor in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“It is a miracle that the child is still alive,” the relative said. “The helper was determined to kill him, and stabbed him several times, starting with the throat and mouth, then his ear and his left shoulder. She also stabbed him four times in the back. His mother saved him by rushing into the room and wrestling with the helper who was mumbling the word ‘Death’ and repeating it. The mother, soaked with her son’s blood, was helped on the street by a driver who took them to King Abdullah hospital for children where the emergency team saved his life,” the relative said.
The incident, expectedly, re-launched the debate on the merit of hiring domestic helpers and leaving children in their custody.
Several media users called for a greater role for mothers at home and in bringing up their children without reliance on helpers and nannies.
Others said that a more rigorous scrutiny should be applied to ensure the helpers are physically and mentally fit to look after children.
Users also called for ensuring a fair physical, psychological and financial treatment of the helpers to minimize frustrations and negative, and sometimes deadly, reactions.
