Esther's mother expresses shock at sentencing
The mother of a woman who died after being kicked in the head by a man in a Dubai car park is slowly coming to terms with the punishment handed to the attacker.
Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the jobless Emirati defendant to three years in jail for assaulting 26-year-old Kenyan Esther Mwikamba Wanjiru. Esther spent a month in a coma after the February attack before dying from her injuries.
“All I wanted was justice to be served,” Esther’s mother, Hannah Mwikamba, told 7DAYS by phone from her village in Thika, Kenya.
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The mother of a woman who died after being kicked in the head by a man in a Dubai car park is slowly coming to terms with the punishment handed to the attacker
“I didn’t wish him a death sentence but we expected something harsher than that to make him feel the extent of loss he caused her family.” Esther was her eldest daughter and the family’s main breadwinner.
The news of Esther’s brutal attack and subsequent death sent shockwaves through the KenÂyan community in the UAE and Gulf states, with some calling for the death sentence.
However, now that the sentencing has concluded, Mzee Rashad, of the Kenyan Community Association in the UAE, said: “If, in his wisdom, the judge found that this was the suitable sentence, it has to be respected or appealed through the normal channels.”
Dubai Public Prosecution, who had asked for the toughest punishment available for the assault leading to death, which is 10 years in jail, will appeal the sentence. The defenÂdant got another year in jail for sexually molesting Esther’s friend - the event that led to Esther’s attack as she came to her friend’s aid.
abdu.baasit@7days.ae
Comments
by james88
Thursday, July 12 2012, 7:00AM
“As lay people, one does not fully understand sentences meted out on persons convicted of crimes like rape, murder or homicide. Many believe that the courts are too lenient in passing sentences on convicts; particularly the appeals courts, if there is a case on appeal the defendant usually is guaranteed or "awarded" (newspaper's or reporter's word) a lighter sentence. At least, this is the impression that one makes in reading newspapers in the UAE.Harsher sentences of course are not the solution or alternative but justice should be equally applied to everyone; or is the media wanting in properly reporting such cases to give lay people wrong interpretation or ideas of the courts decisions?”