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A man who was late in paying his housemaid’s salaries after going bankrupt was declared innocent of human trafficking and forced labour charges by the appeals court yesterday.
Formerly a domestic worker’s dream employer, the Bahraini man was consistent in paying his maid’s salary, had given her a raise and even provided her an Internet package to communicate with her family back home. However, the 32-year-old stopped being a good employer once he ran out of money, although he promised to pay the Ethiopian woman all of her outstanding wages – a total of BD1,000 – as soon as he was able to.
In the initial High Criminal Court trial, judges acquitted him of trafficking in the 28-year-old domestic worker and ‘intending to exploit her for forced labour’.
He was found guilty of the charge of making an employee work without pay, for which he was sentenced to three months in prison – temporarily suspended on BD100 bail in June.
Since the ruling was issued in absentia, he lodged an objection in the same court, but the court upheld it. He took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to appeal the verdict.
Judges ruled to overturn the verdict, declaring the initial court case against him invalid,
since a judicial penalty was already issued against him by the Public Prosecution – having been fined BD200.
The court heard that the maid had come to Bahrain in March 2023 under the appellant’s sponsorship, starting at a BD100 monthly salary.
As per her testimony, he soon increased her wages to BD150, and had provided her with wholesome food, drink, decent lodgings in the house, as well as an Internet connection to stay in touch with her family. She also stated that he allowed her to go out of the house as she pleased.
For more than two years, he ‘paid her salary consistently and on time’, until crisis struck in May 2025, when he went through financial hardship and was unable to continue paying her in a timely manner like he used to.
The woman worked at the house for 10 months, until March 2026, without pay, the court heard. In this crisis, he had also neglected to renew her residency permit. “The suspect withheld the victim’s pay for no acceptable reason but there was no suspicion of trafficking,” a police officer earlier testified.
The appellant previously admitted to not paying her for 10 months’ work. In his police interviews in April, he vowed to pay an outstanding BD1,000 back within 30 days, but it is unknown whether or not he did. He also
admitted to forgetting to renew her residency, recounting that the Ethiopian woman was under his sponsorship for two years.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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