A lower criminal court in Qatar has sentenced two expats to life in prison and a third defendant to 22 years for attempted murder, burglary and breaking and entering of a home last Ramadan.
According to a report this week in Al Raya, the convicts were also ordered to pay back some QR29,684 ($8,151) in stolen money, and a fine of QR10,000 ($2,746) each.
Prior to making its ruling, the court heard that the female defendant, who is from the Philippines, worked as a domestic helper in Qatar and helped set up the robbery of her Lebanese sponsor.
She apparently met one of the other defendants, who are both from Nigeria, in an online chatroom and developed a romantic relationship with him.
Plan
Al Raya reports that the boyfriend frequently visited the female defendant at her sponsor’s home when it was empty, and that she complained to him about being mistreated.
Witnesses said the female defendant gave her boyfriend the house key to duplicate it so that he and a friend could rob and kill the sponsor while she and her sponsor’s wife were out of the country on vacation.
The female defendant was acquitted on the charge of attempted murder, but was convicted of being an accomplice to the crime, by inciting the first defendant to rob and attempt to kill the victim.
She also was convicted of giving him vital information to facilitate the crime, including when the victim’s wife would travel, so that he knew when the sponsor would be alone in the apartment. She also reportedly gave him the password to an ATM card stolen during the robbery.
According to the court, the first defendant had previously made a failed attempt to break into the house, but one of the neighbors saw him climbing up the pipes, so he ran away.
However, he later returned with the second defendant to commit the crime, according to the court.
The incident
Al Raya reports that last July, the two defendants broke into the sponsor’s home wearing ski masks and holding two wooden sticks.
The first defendant waited for the sponsor in the bathroom, and when spotted, got into a scuffle with the man.
They fell to the ground and as the victim attempted to remove the first defendant’s mask, the second defendant hit him on the head from behind with the wooden stick.
The victim got dizzy and as he attempted to stand up, the first defendant delivered another blow to the head, causing him to lose consciousness.
The defendants then stole the victim’s safe, in addition to many other items including car keys, a watch, perfume, a mobile phone and a wallet.
The victim was supposed to meet a friend for iftaar, and when he didn’t turn up or answer his phone, the friend got worried and went to the man’s house.
The friend observed the victim’s car parked outside the home, but when he went up to the apartment, no one answered the door, prompting him to call the police.
Officers reportedly broke down the door and found the victim bleeding and unconscious. He received first aid and was then transferred to the hospital for medical treatment.
The female defendant was ordered to be deported after serving her sentence.
Thoughts?
It is very shocking how easy people find it to kill others. It is even more shocking coming from the Filipino maid, who is supposed to take care of others and help them and not plot to kill them.
Not sure about your ‘even more’ part. Violence is bad. full stop. However, what I find strange is why anyone would mistreat the domestic help that is living under the same roof, often taking care of their children. Surely you would treat this person as humanely as possible, and make sure she has a nice place to stay in, eats well and works reasonable hours. Not just for her sake, but also to teach your children that everyone needs to be respected and treated with dignity. This article (or case) does not explain more about the woman’s complaints about abuse, but having heard and read enough stories about it, it is definitely a problem here, as elsewhere. People should not be surprised if their ill-treated domestic help turns on them once in a while. Inhumanity breeds inhumanity.
I disagree on many points here. If you are mistreated by your sponsor you call the police and you do not plot to kill them. Second, while mistreatment of maids is a known issue here, not every mistreatment report is accurate and true. Many maids come up with mistreatment stories as a justification to their misdeeds (stealing, beating kids, etc.). Third, a maid is indeed supposed to have a more “humane” side, as she is supposed to care for other people. And finally, is this the only thing you find abhorrent in the story? I am more concerned by the crime that could have happened rather than the unproven accusation of mistreatment. If proven then we can look at the case from a slightly different angle.
Agreed that you should not commit a crime. Question though, how transparent, affordable and accessable is the legal system in Qatar? Especially for a desperate someone that probably has to work 7 days a week, has very little money/education, probably doesn’t speak Arabic and is dependent on the very person she wants to take to court? As long as the sponsorship system stays in place – in lieu of a standard, enforcable contractual system – the door for abuse remains wide open.
she was never abused
How do you know she’s not lying you dumb a$$?
Please get your head out of ur back side and stop with the abuse BS! Just accept that some maids come from screwed up backgrounds and societies and will do harm to you even if you treat them like angels!
Believe it or not, the “mistreated” card is used a lot by maids to justify incidents. They are not always true. a few years back we had a maid that wanted to leave before her contract so she accused my mother of mistreat where a few months before, that maid developed a serious illness and required surgery. It was my mother who admitted her to hospital and paid all the expenses, she also used to cook for her and her visiting friends and drive everyday to the hospital to deliver the meals.
You need to accept the fact that some of these maids come from screwed up environments with god knows what mentalities.
Glad they were caught, but attempted murder? Murderers usually come armed with a knife or a gun or something that can deliver a telling fatal blow. Not sure a “stick”, of whatever sort, could be considered to be a murder weapon. Surely if they were intent on murder they would have made sure and not just left him unconscious,
Probably they were planning to bore him to death with some stories, the sticks being Plan B :)))
I am a close friend of the victim , his left skull was shattered in to 11 pieces , lost most of his blood on the floor and to give you a tip , they managed to draw with the blood on the wall . let me know if you still doubt their motive
How is he doing now? Any long term damage?
el hamdellah , full recovery but wasted 1 year from his life between induced coma and multiple surgeries
That is good to hear!! Did they leave Qatar?
Happily living in Qatar
Why did the Lebanese man mistreat his maid? It seems a common habit for
Arabs. Also, I guarantee, because I have seen it myself, that your
friend will probably spend the rest of his life torturing innocent maids
in both Qatar and Lebanon.
She was never mistreated !!! Its not a common habit between Arabs so hold your horses .
keep your guarantee to yourself please . Guys like him don’t need to torture maids at all. People like you should stop assuming Arabs are enslaving others as per your previous comments. , i can also say the same about your people Mathew , i can guarantee it
I agree. You are absolutely right.
It’s a terrible crime. But, to be honest, I’m surprised it is no more common–huge rich-poor gap, domestic servants in trusted positions, regular complaints about treatment of domestic labor, very little known about the backgrounds of the domestic servants, etc.
We don’t know of what kind of abuse she had, and try to put ourselves in her shoe so that we know how she felt. This is a lesson to everybody, don’t be so abusive just because your paying them for their service and treat them fairly.
And you don’t know if she’s just lying, so stfu.
And if what if she’s not??? How’d you know that the victim is not a abuser? Theres always two sides of the story, don’t be one sided be open minded!!!!
I didn’t say she was not, you’re the one stating she was as if you know for fact she was.
That why there’s always 2 side of the story. I am not here to pre-judge nor judge the victim and the defendant. I’m just stating my opinion!!!not even conclusive….
Yes you are, but you seem to have a problem with others’ opinions.
Sorry I think you are mislead by my opinion.
I have to agree. Perhaps she was abused, but it may also become an easy scapegoat excuse.
I doubt we will ever know through this forum if she was lying or telling the truth, however the sentence that has been served suggest to me that the court considered it to be true.
I would question if the court would sentence them for attempted murder unless they believe that the abuse is true. The sentence has been given on the basis that they planned to rob and kill the sponsor. The motive for planned murder appears to be the abuse. Without it, then the motive for planning to murder the sponsor would be weak… a robbery gone wrong – burglary and assault maybe?
It may be true that abuse is sometimes fabricated, but i don’t imagine it helped these defendants in their defenses.
This sounds like a terrible crime for the victim and family, but this talk of abuse or not… i would hypothesize that the crime they were trialed for was reflective of this being true and a strong motive for attempted murder.
And who’s version of the story is this?
Was there a fair trial?
Translators present?
..It’s a terrible crime whatsoever, whether there’s a motive or not.. (for all clarity)
Life imprisonment for attacking someone with a stick and three years in prison for burning a body and damaging and erasing evidence. Sounds fair?
https://dohanews.co/death-penalty-man-convicted-lauren-patterson-murder/