Dubai court upheld 10-year jail term for Indian couple for torturing mother

A Dubai-based Indian man and his wife, who was sentenced to a 10-year jail term for torturing and starving the husband's mother to death, have lost an appeal against their conviction, according to media reports on Sunday. The 29-year-old defendant and his 28-year-old wife, both Indian nationals, tortured the man's mother inside their Al Ghusais residence, The Gulf News reported.

According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, the couple tortured the victim from July 2018, until her death in October 2018, because she wasn't adequately looking after her granddaughter, it said. They were found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation by the Dubai Court of First Instance last October.

According to a forensic report, the man's mother, who was in her 50s, suffered multiple burns and broken bones as a result of sustained torture and physical assault. She was only 29-kg when she arrived at the hospital and reports confirmed that she had been starved, tortured and neglected for months leading up to her death. "She was tortured repeatedly in a short span of time. Burns covered 10 percent of her body. The bone and rib fractures, internal bleeding, assault with different tools, burns, negligence, and starvation led to the deterioration of her health condition," Khaleej Times quoted the forensic doctor as saying.

The couple denied the charges during the trial. The appeal court on Sunday upheld the verdict.

An Indian neighbor testified that she met the wife in the building and she had told her that her mother-in-law had come from India to look after their daughter, but she neglected the child and wasn't changing the girl's nappies, which caused the girl to become ill. "After a few days, I was in the laundry area when I saw the elderly woman looking miserable and pitiful," said the neighbor. Soon after, the neighbor reported the woman's condition to the building's security guard who searched every apartment to find out where the woman was staying. When they reached the defendants' flat they found the victim laying on the floor.

The woman was transferred to Rashid Hospital but she died a month later. The verdict will be subject to appeal within 15 days, The Gulf News reported.