A hapless housemaid has been jailed for three years for using her friend’s CPR to get vaccinated and undergo an operation in Bahrain … not realising the woman had fled the country before facing an arrest warrant.
The High Criminal Court heard how the 36-year-old Indonesian expatriate managed to receive the Covid-19 jab twice in May and June by hoodwinking the medical team with the fake ID, according to court documents.
She said that her friend, also a fellow national, had travelled back to her home country and given her the CPR to use in Bahrain because she had been working in the country illegally. She had been offered a job opportunity as a cleaner at a hotel and needed documentation to accept the position.
Later she used the card to download the BeAware App and register, using her friend’s identity, for the coronavirus vaccinations.
The defendant told the court that she then suffered internal bleeding during a pregnancy which required her to undergo an operation at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) in July.
However, authorities apprehended her due to an arrest warrant being issued in her friend’s name.
She admitted the offences and was found guilty of forgery and fraud. Alongside a three-year sentence she was also handed an additional six months behind bars in connection with staying in the kingdom illegally.
“The defendant confessed that her friend gave her CPR to her to use in Bahrain,” read the court ruling. “She received a job offer to work at a hotel in Juffair and needed to get vaccinated.
“She then used her friend’s CPR and received two vaccinations after registering through the BeAware application. She also had an operation carried out using her friend’s identity.
“I needed to get a job and I thought I would not get into trouble,” she told prosecutors. “I regret using my friend’s CPR but I needed it for registering to get vaccinated for Covid-19.”
The woman will be deported after completing her sentence.
In the meantime, as a prisoner, she will receive the booster jab in the near future.
noorz@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))