Sharjah: A part-time maid staying illegally in the UAE was arrested by Sharjah police after she attempted to kill a seven-month-old boy with a meat cleaver, said authorities on Sunday.
The quick intervention of Sharjah Police saved the toddler, said Colonel Ebrahim Al Ajel, Director of Criminal and Investigation Department.
A neighbour in the Muwailah area alerted the police around 2.45pm that a woman was screaming hysterically while a baby was crying loudly in the adjacent apartment, as items were smashed inside.
The parents of the child were at work at that time and the neighbour could not understand the language of the maid who was alone with the baby, police said.
Police arrived within 10 minutes of the call and when they entered the premises, they reportedly saw the maid, who is an Ethiopian national, screaming and holding a cleaver in her hand.
The maid was taken into custody and an inquiry is ongoing, police said.
Colonel Al Ajel warned residents against hiring illegal maids given a high rate of theft and other crimes attributed to illegal workers in recent times.
Many housemaids drop leaflets in apartments or villas that contain their contact numbers but people should refrain from employing them, he said.
Colonel Al Ajel said that most of the problems with housemaids involve absconding.
“These [part-time] maids are usually not on the sponsorship of the family, and so when they do anything illegal, it is difficult to trace them as the employers know nothing about them,” he said.
