Dubai: A mother, who killed her 14-month-old son by stepping on his belly and causing him internal bleeding, will spend seven years in jail after she lost her appeal on Sunday.

In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance had convicted the Emirati mother of killing her son by deliberately stepping on his belly and jailed her for three years, a judgement that was overturned and stiffened on Sunday.

The Dubai Appeal Court rejected the Emirati defendant’s appeal to reduce her punishment and accepted that of the prosecutors.

In courtroom 20, presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif cancelled the three years imprisonment and increased it to seven years in jail.

Records said the accused mother had repeatedly beaten her son on different occasions until his death in July 2016.

The mother pleaded not guilty and contended that she didn’t have any premeditated intent to kill her boy.

The lawyer defending the Emirati woman argued in court that the victim had a medical record especially in 2015 during which he was admitted to hospital more than three times.

“We ask the court to refer this case file to a committee of medical experts from Dubai Health Authority to look into all the medical reports, prescriptions and files and surgeries that the victim had since his birth. The committee should include a pharmacist specialised in medicine sciences to review the case file and decide on the side effects that could have been caused to the victim’s belly and intestines (vomiting, bleeding and ruptures) by the prescribed medicines,” the woman’s lawyer defended.

The defendant’s younger sister had testified that she noticed bruises and injuries on her nephew’s body and constantly heard him cry all night long.

Meanwhile, the defendant’s Indonesian maid had testified that the mother was violent with her son.

“The maid was herself a second suspect in the case. Once she knew about the gravity of crime, and that she could be facing a death sentence, she blamed the mother. She stated that my client was abusive with her son … when she alleged to have seen my client pressing her son’s belly, well that incident happened four months before the death. The medical reports were not precise and conclusive and contained doubtful details,” the defendants’ lawyer said.

“Besides, we also suspect that some sort of negligence or malpractice had happened at the hospital where the boy was admitted for a broken leg in September 2015. The parents were asked to discharge their son after 25 days of treatment, and when asked why, the doctor said because the medication was not covered by the insurance.

“Due to his continuous crying, the boy was rushed back to hospital after three days before doctors surprised my client and told her that she had put a screw in her son’s skull … yet the boy’s head did not bear any marks or injuries to confirm the doctor’s allegation. That was mainly what made the defence suspect that the boy must have been subject to some sort of negligence or malpractice,” argued the lawyer.

When questioned by prosecutors, the defendant, according to the lawyer, said she blamed the hospital for her son’s injuries.

The convicted mother’s lawyer is expected to appeal Sunday’s judgement before the Cassation Court soon.