Dubai: A woman faces three years in jail after losing her appeal in a case in which she was accused of attempting to sell her 50-day-old baby born out of wedlock for Dh10,000 to a police informant.
The 39-year-old Indonesian woman, who became an illegal resident after absconding from her sponsor’s residence in 2012, conceived the child out of wedlock following an affair with a Pakistani man in Abu Dhabi. She delivered the baby girl in a public park in the capital and moved to Dubai where she rented a bed space from a 49-year-old Sri Lankan female cleaner in Al Muteena.
A 45-year-old Sri Lankan driver overheard that the mother wanted to get rid of her baby because the child had been hindering her movements and she had not been able to obtain papers to legalise the baby’s status.
The driver passed on the information to a woman (the police informant) he knew and suggested that she buy the baby for Dh10,000.
Anti-human trafficking officers, thereafter, obtained a prosecutor’s warrant and arrested the suspects involved in selling the baby.
The woman informant posed as a buyer and met the driver, who handed her the baby and took the money. The mother and two Sri Lankans were arrested as part of the sting operation.
In November, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the trio for three years each followed by deportation.
The three convicts appealed the primary judgements and pleaded not guilty in an effort to have their punishments reduced.
In the Appeal Court, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the trio’s appeals and upheld their three-year jail terms.
The deportation ordered was also upheld.
An anti-human trafficking police captain testified that they tasked the informant to pose as a buyer and provided her with Dh10,000 as part of the sting operation.
“The informant alerted us that she had communicated with the cleaner, who had informed her that she had been searching for someone to buy the illegitimate girl. The informant and the 49-year-old defendant agreed to meet behind a hotel in Al Muteena. After the deal was sealed, a stakeout team swept into action, raided the place and arrested the cleaner.
“Further interrogations, led to the arrest of the mother and the driver. The Indonesian claimed she had sex with a Pakistani man in Abu Dhabi and got pregnant. She said her parents guided her over the phone from Indonesia on how to deliver her own baby. She then moved to Dubai and rented a bed space for Dh600 until she decided to get rid of her baby,” the captain said.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.
