By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: A Filipino woman accused of murdering her employers daughter in Kuwait has been sentenced to death after a court found her guilty of the charges, reports said Tuesday.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Arab Times said Jakatia Mandon Pawa was found guilty of killing a 20-year-old woman at a suburb in Mubarak Al-Kabeer in Qurain district, south of Kuwait City.
The paper reported that the Kuwaiti Court of Appeals Judge Mohammed Bu Slaib upheld the verdict of a lower court. Death sentences in Kuwait are carried out by hanging. The 31-year-old Filipino maid is a native of Zamboanga del Norte province.
In a previous session, Jakatias lawyer argued his client had no criminal intent as there is no evidence proving that she intentionally killed the victim. He then requested the court to acquit his client, refer to a committee from the Psychiatric Hospital to check on her mental status or, at least, show maximum leniency toward Jakatia, the Arab Times reported.
The report said Jakatia stabbed and killed her employer on May 14 as she was sleeping in her room. After the killing, Jakatia jumped from the second floor of the house and injured herself. She was rushed to hospital and stayed there for several days.
The verdict was the newspapers front-page story, but the motive of the killing was not mentioned in the story.
In December 2007, Filipino maid Marilou Ranario was also sentenced to death for killing her employer, but the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, commuted the sentence to life after President Gloria Arroyo visited the country where more than 73,000 Filipinos work, mostly as domestic helpers.
It was the third time that a death sentence has been handed down against a Filipino worker in recent months. In April this year, the Kuwaiti Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against May Vecina for killing the 7-year-old son of her Kuwaiti employer and attempting to kill the victims elder sister and brother. But the emir also commuted Vecinas death conviction to life after the Philippine government appealed to spare her life.
Kuwaiti courts found Vecina guilty of killing Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaib on January 6, 2007. She also attempted to kill the victims 13-year old brother Abdulla by slitting the boys throat and his 17-year-old sister Hajer by stabbing her. At her trial, the Filipino maid claimed that she suffered physical and mental abuse from her employer, which led her to lose her mind.
Source of this newsfrom Yehey.com
