By MANDEEP SINGH and BASMA MOHAMMED
A BAHRAINI man fought in vain to save his maid's life as she was attacked by his brother, sources claimed yesterday.
The body of 29-year old Ami Tursiya Takiyat was found in shrubland near the Sitra coastline on Monday.
Her sponsor's brother was arrested within 24 hours of the attack after being spotted trying to dump the body.
The sponsor was being treated in Salmaniya Medical Complex last night, after suffering a mental breakdown and becoming hysterical after the body was found.
It is believed Ms Takiyat was still alive but bleeding from a slit throat as her attacker dragged her from the family home, near the Toyota showroom in Sitra, on Sunday night, said sources.
They said the sponsor was sprayed with blood as he tried to stop the attack.
"He was pushed aside and a profusely-bleeding Ms Takiyat was dumped in the attacker's car and he drove away," said the sources.
They said the sponsor tried to follow him but was restrained by other family members.
"The man was then restrained and told to remain quiet, but the next morning he called the recruiting agency and reported the maid as having run away," said the sources.
But when the woman's body was discovered by the police later on Monday, he broke down and became hysterical, they said.
"When it became difficult to restrain him, paramedics were called and he was taken to the SMC."
One of the doctors who treated the man said he was still in blood-soaked clothes when he arrived at the hospital.
"We were told he had tried to stop his brother from attacking the housemaid and had been sprayed with her blood after her throat was slit," said the doctor.
He said the wound indicated that the weapon was a kitchen-type knife, contradicting an earlier Interior Ministry report that it was a screwdriver.
Indonesian Consulate officials were yesterday trying to trace Ms Takiyat's family, to inform them of the killing. It is understood she had been in Bahrain for just seven months and was employed by the family through a local agency.
The Bahrain agency does not have the family details, but consulate labour specialist Hafiz Ahmed said he hoped to get these through the Indonesian agency which sent her here.
A spokesman from the Bahrain agency said staff got a call from the sponsor on Monday to say that Ms Takiyat had run away.
It was only yesterday that they discovered she had been killed, said the spokesman, speaking on condition that neither he nor the agency be identified.
He said the agency did not have her family contact details, but these could be provided by the agency in Indonesia.
An Interior Ministry statement, issued on Monday night and published yesterday, said the sponsor's brother stabbed Ms Takiyat in the neck with a screwdriver after a row.
A witness alerted police after spotting the bloodstained man in Sitra as he was trying to remove the body from his car trunk, said Central Police director-general Colonel Naji Al Hashel.
The suspect managed to escape with the body still in his car after an argument with the witness. Police closed in on the suspect after identifying his car in a manhunt co-ordinated with all directorates across the country.
He admitted committing the murder, claiming the victim had insulted him.
The case is still undergoing investigations by the Public Prosecution.
