Dubai: A newborn suffocated as a piece of cloth had been stuffed in his mouth, said a crime scene investigator as he described a murder scene in court on Wednesday.

A 32-year-old Filipina maid admitted earlier before the Dubai Court of First Instance that she had stuffed the cloth in the mouth of her newborn and suffocated him soon after he was born in September.

Following a request of defence lawyer request to summon the crime scene investigator, the witness told the court: “When I entered the flat, the baby was left in a bag. He was placed in the bottom of the bag and his body was covered with clothes. His mouth was wide open and it was clear that a piece of cloth had been stuffed into his oesophagus … it was obvious that he had stopped breathing because of that cloth.”

Responding to presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi’s question, whether the baby was a fully mature foetus, the investigator said: “Yes, he was a fully mature foetus … There was blood on his body and his mouth was wide open with the piece of cloth inside. However, I didn’t see signs of injuries or beating on the baby’s body in the flat in Al Nahda area.”

Records said the 32-year-old Filipina was staying at the house of her sponsor’s sister and nobody was aware that she had had an illicit affair that resulted in a pregnancy.

In September, she suddenly told her sponsor and her sister that she had a stomachache before locking herself in the washroom for two hours. When she walked out of the washroom with a plastic bag in her hand, she headed to the couch and collapsed there and had some bloodstains on her clothes.

When her sponsor and her sister asked her about her medical situation, according to records, she pretended that she was tired and sick of her menstruation before her condition worsened.

After she was rushed to hospital and admitted to the emergency ward, doctor notified the sponsor and the sister that the suspect had just delivered a baby.

When the suspect’s medical situation stabilised, she told the police that she had delivered a baby born out of an illicit relationship and kept him at home.

Police raided the flat and discovered the plastic bag in which the foetus was found dead.

The suspect pleaded guilty to the charge of killing her newborn.

The trial continues.