Saudi sentences Indonesian maid to death for child murder

RIYADH (AFP) - A Saudi court sentenced an Indonesian housemaid to death after she was convicted of murdering her employers' four-year-old child, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday.

The maid was "charged with decapitating the girl with a cleaver when her parents were away at work and her sisters were at school," the newspaper reported, adding that the woman's lawyer will file an appeal.

The court on Sunday sentenced to death an "Indonesian housemaid who was found guilty of murdering Tala Al-Shehri, a four-year-old girl, in (the Red Sea city of) Yanbu last September," the English-language Saudi Gazette reported.

The woman was also handed down an eight-month jail term and 200 lashes for attempted suicide after committing the horrific crime, it said.