Housemaid burns sponsor's house

Manama

An Asian maid set her sponsor’s house on fire in retaliation over his mistreatment, court documents read. The woman is being tried before the High Criminal Court on charges of putting lives of people in danger and causing damages to a private property. It’s claimed the accused lighted her room in her sponsor’s house early morning before escaping. However, the sponsor’s son spotted smoke coming out the room and alerted his father, who contacted police. The fire was put out by the Civil Defence personnel, and later the family identified the culprit after reviewing the CCTV camera footages. She appeared in the footage covering the lens of one of the cameras before making a runaway. The Asian woman was nabbed from the manpower office that brought her to work in Bahrain. “I went to the manpower office who gave her to me and I informed them what had happened. They told me as soon as she comes, they would let me know,” the victim said in his statement. “And as pledged, I was informed of her arrival, and I told police officers about her whereabouts,” he added. Recounting the items damaged in the fire, the victim revealed, “An air-conditioning unit, a wardrobe, a bed and other furniture were damaged,” before estimating the costs of damages at BD1700. The accused, however, denied torching the place, but confirmed escaping “due to continuous abuses from her sponsor,” according to her statement. “He always shouted at me and I was given too much of work,” she said. “I had agreed to stay with them for a year. But then they asked me to work for another year or to pay them BD900. They claimed I had breached my contract,” she added.