Housewife remanded in jail over death of maid

The controversy trailing the death of a 16-year-old housemaid a few weeks ago in Kano reached a climax on Monday following the arraignment of her employer before a magistrate court in the state. The Magistrate Court No 8 sitting in Gyadi-Gyadi area of the state metropolis ordered that Fatima Hamza, a housewife and employer of […]

The controversy trailing the death of a 16-year-old housemaid a few weeks ago in Kano reached a climax on Monday following the arraignment of her employer before a magistrate court in the state.

The Magistrate Court No 8 sitting in Gyadi-Gyadi area of the state metropolis ordered that Fatima Hamza, a housewife and employer of the deceased housemaid, be remanded in a correctional centre for allegedly killing her maid (name withheld).

• Alleged fraud: Court orders fresh charges against Oduah
• The next glorious 50 years of China-Nigeria relations

Fatima Hamza was accused of beating the late housemaid to a pulp after she noticed that the deceased did not do the house chores she was instructed to do.

The State Counsel, Barrister Asma’u Ado, told the court that the woman was brought before the court on a one-count charge of culpable homicide, which contradicts section 224 of Penal Code Law.

The accused person pleaded not guilty.

Her counsel, Barrister Ibrahim Abdullahi Chedi applied for bail on health ground, noting that the accused had a miscarriage while in police detention and her baby was also not feeling fine.

“We have a medical report from the Police Headquarters Medical Centre as our client had a miscarriage as a result of shock. And as a nursing mother, her daughter is also sick so we are seeking bail so that our client can have access to a facility for better medical care,” he said.

But the state counsel objected to the application on the grounds that the medical report did not indicate a specific illness that the accused person was suffering from “apart from the miscarriage, which she will recover from as she continues taking her drugs”.

The presiding Judge, Chief Magistrate Ibrahim Khalil Mahmood, thereafter ordered that the accused person be remanded in a correctional centre and adjourned the case to February 16 for ruling on the bail application.

Kano/Jigawa Chronicle reports that there has been back and forth over the death of the housemaid with her colleague (name withheld), retracting her earlier statement where she stated that the deceased died as a result of severe injuries she sustained from the beating their boss gave her.

But the police had said the preliminary report indicated that the late housemaid died as a result of a cat bite complications, a narration similar to the one given by the accused person.

However, the police decided to file charges against the accused person at the weekend with the spokesman of the police, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, saying that the command had concluded investigations and had concrete evidence to prosecute the woman.

Kiyawa maintained that the late housemaid was diagnosed and the result indicated cat bite.

“We have the hospital report and the witnesses on that, but on the accusation of beating the late housemaid to death by her boss, there were three witnesses on the issue; the co-housemaid, the security guard and Fatima’s mother,” he said.