News: Abu Dhabi Maid Accused Of "Fish Juju": Awaits Verdict

A maid accused of placing frozen fish under her bed as a black magic curse has been told she must wait another three weeks to find out whether she will be sent to prison.

Judges at Abu Dhabi Appeal Court said on Thursday they need another 20 days to consider the case, even though the Ethiopian’s employer says she wants the matter dropped.
The maid was acquitted of sorcery at an earlier trial in the criminal court. But prosecutors appealed against that verdict, believing they have enough evidence to show she was using ‘magic’ to curse the Emirati family for whom she worked in Abu Dhabi.
“I was hoping that it would end so I can go free and then find a new job and get a new visa,” the maid told a newspaper. “My employer wants it to end, I want it to end. I will find a new job and we will both be finished with it.”
The Islamic Affairs and Endowments Authority had said in a report that a piece of hair, white powder and a prayer card found in the maid’s luggage were being used for sorcery. But the criminal court acquitted the maid, who said the prayer was a Christian blessing.
At an appeal hearing earlier this month, the employer said that, while the maid was detained for five days on the sorcery charge, she found frozen fish under the woman’s bed. This, she said, the maid could have been using as a proxy for the family to curse them.
Last week, however, she said that the maid had suffered enough and that she wanted the case dropped so the maid could go work for another family.