I’m Innocent, Filipina Maid Insists Right Up to Her Execution

Manila: A Filipino mother of two who was convicted of killing her Kuwaiti employers daughter has been executed, insisting to the end that she was innocent of the murder 10 years ago, officials said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman, Assistant Secretary Charles Jose, said Jakatia Pawa was hanged on Wednesday, just hours after she tearfully called her brother, Air Force Lt Col Angaris Pawa, from Kuwait to inform him of her scheduled execution.

Pawa, 41, had worked as a maid for the Kuwaiti family for five years before the 2007 killing. The 41-year-old widow asked her brother and other siblings to take care of her 13-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter.

Since 2007 the department has pursued different channels in an effort to save the life of Pawa, including high-level intercessions, Jose said, referring to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos personal efforts in 2010, to seek clemency for Pawa from the Kuwaiti government.

In a statement, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said the government provided Pawa all necessary assistance to ensure her legal rights were respected and all legal procedures were followed.

He said all other efforts, including appeals for compassion, were exerted. Execution, however, could no longer be forestalled under Kuwaiti laws, Abella added.

Jose said the DFA was informed of Pawa’s scheduled execution only on Tuesday. He said the victims’ family refused to accept blood money and demanded the death sentence.

“Please take good care of my children. They are about to become orphans. I am going to paradise because I have not committed any crime,” Pawa reportedly told brother Angaris when she informed the family of the bad news. — Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

(Source: TheStar.com.my)