.jpg?20260610')
AN UNDOCUMENTED expatriate, who gave birth under another woman’s identity, has been convicted of impersonation and forgery but will remain out of jail to continue caring for her child. However, a ‘Good Samaritan’ woman, who lent her identity card to the new mother as ‘a humanitarian act,’ was found guilty of aiding and abetting her and looks set for a lengthy spell behind bars.
Yesterday, the High Criminal Court handed the Moroccan mother a one-year suspended sentence. Her Egyptian co-defendant received a three-year prison sentence.
In February 2020, the 34-year-old Moroccan had started to give birth in her apartment, as she reportedly did not have documentation to go to the hospital.
“My sister asked me to lend her my CPR card to help out a woman in need who didn’t have any identification,” the 36-year-old Egyptian earlier testified before judges.
“I saw her screaming through labour, with blood everywhere, and I couldn’t help but give her my card so that she could be taken by an ambulance and admitted to a hospital.
“I only wanted to save the mother and her newborn, especially as I have been deprived of having children of my own.
“She was in crisis, laying on the ground, dirtied by blood and birth tissue. It was a terrifying situation.”
The woman went on to claim that she frantically handed the new mother her whole handbag, which happened to not only contain her CPR but also her marriage certificate.
Case files even include the baby’s birth registration form, on which the Moroccan falsely wrote the name of the Egyptian woman and her Bahraini husband.
No details about the baby’s real father or his whereabouts have been stated in case files. Both mother and child, who is now three and a half years old, were found to be healthy after their ordeal after receiving professional care and assistance.
In an earlier hearing, the Egyptian woman’s lawyer submitted a defence statement to judges, arguing that she did not commit the crime of which she was accused.
“The defendant maintains her innocence – she had no idea her card was used to break the law.
“She has no criminal intention or motives, there was no witness, and no indisputable evidence to prove her guilt. Her innocence is as clear as the sun at noon,” the lawyer claimed.
The lawyer also submitted a request to judges to lift the woman’s travel ban so she could return to Egypt and visit her sick father.
None of the defence points seemed to gain any purchase with judges, and the woman was sentenced to jail time, which she will start serving if her appeal options prove unsuccessful.
The GDN earlier reported that her startled husband told prosecutors that he received a call from Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) police asking him to come register his newborn.
“I told them that’s not right – I have no relation to the baby and my wife is right here with me, so there was no way she had a baby,” the retired Karbabad banker told prosecutors.
The Moroccan mother admitted in prosecution hearings to using the fellow expat’s card. “I was just out of labour and I wasn’t thinking straight when I gave the healthcare workers the woman’s card,” the court heard.
Official documents from SMC listed the incident as an ‘unsupported delivery’, adding that the mother-to-be was also treated for palpitations.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))