Kuwait court affirms death sentence on OFW

MANILA, Philippines - Kuwait's highest court affirmed on Tuesday the verdict on May Vecina, a 29-year-old domestic helper from Matalam North Cotabato, was sentenced to die by hanging in July last year for the death of a six-year-old son of her employers in January 2007.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr said Kuwait's Cassation Court (supreme court) decision came out at 11:45 a.m. in Kuwait (4:45 p.m. in Manila).

The Emir of Kuwait has two months to sign and act on the court’s decision. Within this period, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can exert diplomatic means and personal appeals for compassion to spare Vecina from death.

“We are committed to exhaust all legal remedies, but I can not discuss or disclose what are those right now because this is a sensitive and serious matter," Conejos said in a press conference.

Possible options, Conejos said, are for the Philippine government to either seek pardon or commutation of sentence from the Emir of Kuwait.

“We are still optimistic that we will be able to explain the side of May Vecina (to the Emir)," Conejos said.

The government will continue to convince Vecina’s former employers to accept blood money in exchange for their forgiveness for the death of their son Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaibi, he added.

“We will leave no stone unturned. We will exhaust all legal remedies and take diplomatic initiatives," Conejos said.

Vecina's lawyer appealed her conviction for the death of her ward on January 6, 2007. Vecina hails from Barangay Dalapitan, Matalam, North Cotabato.

Vecina's husband, Leo, wrote a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last year, asking her to “exert all means" to save his wife’s life.

The couple has two children -- Quennie Jane, 8, and King James 4.

Apart from the murder of her ward, Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaibi, Vecina was also charged with two counts of frustrated murder for allegedly slashing the throat of the victim’s 13-year-old brother Abdullah and stabbing his 17-year-old sister Hajer.

The children’s parents were said to be preparing for Maghreb prayers on the ground floor when the incident happened.

Vecina then jumped from the second floor of her employers’ house in Mumbarak, Al-Kabeer district, about 30 kilometers from Kuwait resulting in serious back injuries. She was confined in a hospital for a while.

Earlier reports indicated she reacted violently to insults hurled at her by her employer's family.

Last year, the Kuwait Court of Cassation also affirmed the death sentence on another Filipina Marilou Ranario, 35, for the murder of her female employer in 2005. After a meeting with President Arroyo, the Emit commuted her death sentence to life imprisonment.

There are around 73,000 Filipinos in the Gulf State, 60,000 of whom are women employed mostly as maids.

In June 2007, Reynaldo Cortez, 41, was beheaded in Saudi after he was charged for murdering a Pakistani taxi driver who alleged tried to sexually assault him.

Last year, President Arroyo committed to intervene for 26 other overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on death row in different countries, including Vecina, after securing the commutation of Marilou Ranario’s death sentence to life imprisonment in Kuwait. - GMANews.TV

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