An Ethiopian housemaid committed suicide at the women's ward of the Abyar
Ali Penitentiary in Madinah on Friday.
The domestic worker had been in prison since the end of August, a local
daily reported Saturday.
"The 23-year-old inmate was found hanging by her head scarf at about 8 a.m.
She was immediately taken down and rushed to the nearby Meeqat Hospital, but
the doctors there declared her dead on arrival," said a source at the
provincial prison directorate.
The woman, who arrived in the Kingdom as a housemaid, was sent to prison on
charges of stabbing her female employer.
She was arrested a month ago after reportedly stabbing Gheelah, her
octogenarian employer. Aziziah police handed her over to Aqiq police after
her relatives identified her, Col. Fahd Al-Ghannam, spokesman for Madinah
police, said in a statement shortly after her arrest. The Bureau of
Investigation and Public Prosecution then took over the case.
Ahmad Al-Ahmadi, the victim's son, said he knew nothing about the motive of
the maid's near-fatal attack on his mother, who used to treat her well.
The younger son of the elderly woman added that the maid's attack was
shocking and unexpected because she showed good conduct and had not
manifested any signs of violent behavior or mental imbalance in the past.
Investigators could not obtain information from the maid because she refused
to speak during the interrogation to reveal the motives for her attack.
Suhail Khan, director of a hospital for the mentally unstable in Jeddah,
said 90 percent of female patients at his hospital were Ethiopian and that
one patient a day on average is admitted. The doctor added that most cases
were complicated and hard to deal with. The cases included serious
psychological disturbances and schizophrenia.