Pinay in UAE faces raps for 'reckless' child delivery

A Filipina faced a United Arab Emirates court over the weekend for allegedly delivering her cousin's baby in a reckless manner, an Arab news site reported on Monday. Prosecutors claimed the 54-year-old woman, which the report did not name, intentionally endangered the life of her 30-year-old cousin, who was impregnated by an out-of-wedlock affair with a Pakistani Man, a Gulf News report said. The woman delivered the illegitimate baby in a dangerous and impractical way that caused health hazards to the cousin, the prosecution said. The accused woman was also charged for failing to report to authorities that her cousin has had consensual sex with the 30-year-old Pakistani man. Giving birth outside of wedlock is considered a crime in the Middle-Eastern country. The report said that when the Filipina appeared before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court, she failed to deny or admit her crime before Presiding Judge Ebrahim Khalil Abu Shamma due to language difficulties. The court has since decided to reconvene on Sunday so that a Filipino translator can be made available. Court records showed the woman was arrested in her house in Deira during a random police raid against illegal residents. The woman claimed the seven-month-old baby was her daughter, but DNA tests revealed she was not the biological mother of the baby. This led to her admission that the baby was actually her cousin's, who was earlier deported following cancellation of her visa. Another report, this time by Middle-Eastern tabloid 7Days, said the mother of the baby has been fired by her employer after finding out about the baby. "She left a month later and I have been taking care of the baby," the woman reportedly said. The report said the woman admitted she had no experience with childbirth and had not seen a delivery. It added that the Filipina faces up to two years in jail followed by deportation and a fine of 1,000 dirham (around P11,800). — JMT, GMA News