MANILA, Philippines -- Kuwait’s supreme court has upheld a death sentence against an overseas Filipino worker for the killing of her seven-year-old ward in 2007, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
May Vecina, 28, was convicted of killing the boy by slitting his throat on January 6 last year, as well as attempting to kill his older brother and sister who sustained injuries.
DFA undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos, who announced the court’s decision Tuesday, said Vecina has been sentenced to hang.
The court ruling is final and only needs to be signed by Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to be implemented.
But Conejos said Manila would appeal the case to Kuwaiti authorities.
Conejos said Vecina's family has been informed of this latest development in the case and also assured that the government will continue to exert all legal means to save her life.
He refused to divulge the details of these legal actions, although he did not discount the possibility of paying “blood money†after getting the victim's family's forgiveness.
“We will take diplomatic initiatives. But right now I don't want to be specific...We will not give up. We will continue all possible legal means,†he said.
Vecina was also found guilty of slitting the throat of the victim's 11-year-old brother and stabbing his 17-year-old sister. Both survived the attacks however.
The Filipina, who was working in Kuwait for six months when the incident happened, was reportedly in constant conflict with her employer.
After the incident, Vecina leapt from the second floor of her employer's house, causing her fractures and injuries.
Vecina's case and those similar to hers prompted the labor department to impose stricter deployment rules for household workers, including $5,000 bonds for repatriation and other fees.
Vecina was sentenced to death by a lower court in July last year and the appeals court confirmed the ruling in September.
Death sentences in the Gulf state are carried out by hanging.
In December, the Kuwaiti ruler agreed to commute the death sentence to life in jail for another Filipina maid, Marilou Ranario, who was convicted of killing her employer, after a visit by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
About 73,000 Filipinos, including 60,000 women employed mostly as housemaids, work in oil-rich Kuwait and earn less than $200 a month on average, labor groups say.
source: Inquirer.net
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