Filipina acquitted of murder in UAE returns home

November 2, 2018

Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Jennifer Dalquez returned home Thursday morning after she was acquitted by a court for killing her employer four years ago in the United Arab Emirates. Dalquez arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Friday morning aboard Philippine Airlines flight PR657 from Abu Dhabi.

“I thanked the government as well as President Rodrigo Duterte for their efforts of getting me out from imprisonment,” Dalquez said in a press briefing at the NAIA Terminal 1.

"The government and the embassy took care of me. I thank my mother, father for praying for me," she added.

Dalquez, who is from General Santos City, was reunited with her parents Rajima Hamid and Abdul Hamid who were escorted by staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) at the NAIA.

Dalquez was arrested on December 12, 2014, days after stabbing her employer whom the Filipina claimed was trying to rape her.

The Al Ain Court of First Instance on May 20, 2015 sentenced Dalquez to death but she was given a chance under Islamic law to have the decision reversed if the victim's sons will not swear in the name of Allah she killed their father and instead opt for paying blood money.

The Philippine Embassy in UAE appealed her conviction and had it overturned by a local court in 2017.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Office of Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said Dalquez received assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and financial assistance from the DFA, Overseas Workers Welfare Association and the Department of Labor and Employment, and scholarship for her child.

Dalquez and her parents will temporarily  stay at the OWWA before flying to General Santos City. DMS