Maid jailed, fined for ‘abandoning’ child A housemaid who “abandoned” the two-year-old child of her Pakistani employer has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment and fined QR5000, for endangering the life of the kid. According to the charge-sheet, the Sri Lankan woman left behind the physically challenged child and fled after stealing QR4,000 from the house of her employer on March 11, 2008. Following a trial in absentia, the court also handed her a three-year jail sentence and subsequent deportation for the theft. The Pakistani father told the investigators that the family did not find the housemaid on the day when they returned home from work. “When I searched the cupboard, I noticed that QR4,000 was missing from my wife’s bag.” He said that they found their handicapped two-year old child who was left under the care of the maid, abandoned. The court of first instance said that the theft and the abandoning of the child were two separate crimes and therefore “the housemaid deserved separate penalties for each one of them.” Two imprisoned for carrying marijuana A Doha court sentenced two Sri Lankans to 10-year’s imprisonment and subsequent deportation for “possession of marijuana for trade purposes.” A third Sri Lankan was cleared of the charge. Following a tip-off, an agent from the anti-drug department pretended that he was a drug user and fixed a meeting in Industrial Area with the first accused. The acquitted suspect was seen giving his compatriot a bag containing 287gm of marijuana, but the court found insufficient evidence to prove that he knew what was inside. A forensic test proved he was not an addict. The investigations led to a third compatriot and he was convicted as the main supplier. The two convicts, who were found addicts as well in forensic tests, were fined QR200,000. Driver cleared of theft charge A Doha appeals court has cleared an Egyptian pickup driver of the charges of stealing, along with a compatriot, seven air-conditioners on account of ‘insufficient evidence.’ The two were earlier sentenced by a first-degree court to one-year imprisonment and subsequent deportation and they were ordered to return the ACs or pay the cost, estimated at QR7,000. The incident occurred in February 2006. Though the court suspended the jail penalty, it kept the marching order. Only the driver, now 31, went in appeal, while his co-accused, an engineer, did not appeal and left the country after serving the original sentence. Explaining the acquittal decision, the court cited contradictions on the testimonies of the witnesses. Also, the appeals panel heard about “the animosity between the two suspects, which led the engineer to claim that his compatriot was his accomplice.” Man sentenced for ‘attempt to kill’ A Bangladeshi man was sentenced in absentia to three-year’s imprisonment and subsequent deportation for ‘attempting to kill’ a compatriot on October 23 last year. The court heard that a verbal dual between the two, over prices of water that the sponsor’s wife ordered, turned ugly. According to the charge-sheet, the accused “went to a nearby tent and returned soon holding a knife and stabbed his compatriot in the head and back.” A colleague testified that he came to the scene following calls from the sponsor’s wife and that he saw the suspect holding a knife and the victim was bleeding heavily. The accused is 37 and the victim 33. The latter is recovering from his wounds.

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