Lankan maid acquitted of theft charges

A Doha court of first instance has acquitted a Sri Lankan housemaid of charges of stealing gold jewellery from her employer’s house.

The judge ruled that the plaintiff lodged a police complaint against the maid with “malicious intention” to avenge the woman’s escape to a nearby police station, seeking protection. The judge ordered the immediate release of the 49-year-old maid, who has spent almost a year in prison “unless she was jailed for another reason.”


Explaining the acquittal, the court said that the Palestinian family that employed the woman filed on October 17 last year a complaint “after three days” of allegedly finding QR100 and a bracelet in the maid’s bag.

The plaintiff’s sister claimed that she had recently “lost” cash, bracelets, rings and earrings worth a total QR100,000. However, she failed to produce receipts proving that she owned the gold items.

The judge underlined that the allegedly stolen items were not found in the maid’s possession. The plaintiff testified that the maid repeatedly asked him to send her back to her country and he found it “suspicious”. However, the judge said that the housemaid might have suffered from homesickness.

A forensic report showed that the fingerprints taken from the bag did not belong to the maid.

The plaintiff said that the injuries which the housemaid sustained resulted from jumping from the first floor balcony of the house in her bid to escape. However, the judge found as “reasonable” the Sri Lankan’s statement that she escaped to the nearby police station for seeking protection after the plaintiff’s brother lashed her with a belt.