Yahoo News 
Runaway maid facing jail saved by donation, free to return home
A runaway maid who was facing jail in the UAE over a Dhs5,000 fine demanded by her former employer is heading back to her native country thanks to a donation from a 7DAYS reader.
Violeta Gabatin would have been jailed and blocked from leaving the country until she paid the man Dhs5,590, a fine imposed on her after she fled her job.
Gabatin insists she ran away because she was asked to do way more than she was hired to do. However, she is now planning for life back in the Philippines after the courts retrieved her passport. Gabatin’s Emirati employer, who owns an Abu Dhabi pizza restaurant, among several other businesses, sued her in the Abu Dhabi courts after she ran away.
He was awarded Dhs5,590 – the cost of hiring her. Gabatin fled the home of her boss’s sister after alleging that she was working 20 hours a day for him, his sister and other members of his extended family.
Her case was finally cleared after a Dubai-based businessman read about her case in 7DAYS and donated Dhs5,000 to pay off the court-ordered debt. The Filipino embassy donated the remaining Dhs590.
After receiving the news that she was free, Gabatin broke down in tears as she recalled not being able to sleep or eat for fear she would not be able to return to her three children.
“I cannot thank this man enough,” she said. “The embassy has been very supportive. I have been living there for more than five months, but now I really want to get a new job and see my family. I thought it would be such a long time before I would see them.”
sean@7days.ae
RELATED LINKS:
7DAYS reader offers to help clear maid’s debt in Abu Dhabi
Maid ordered to pay wealthy businessman to cover costs of hiring her
