An Irish flight attendant is currently being detained in Dubai after being charged with 'attempted suicide'.
Law authorities in the UAE have also kept the passport of 28-year-old Emirates Airlines cabin crew employee Tori Towey, who is originally from Roscommon, and she is facing a travel ban.
The young flight attendant became the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her husband, who allegedly launched a brutal attack involving punching, choking, kicking and biting as well as threatening her with a knife and slamming her arm in a door repeatedly.
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After neighbours intervened and Towey was taken to hospital, she later found that she had a travel ban against her preventing her from leaving Dubai. Despite reporting the attack to authorities, little action was taken and after her husband once again began to launch another violent attack, she then wrapped an electrical cord around her neck and threatened to take her own life.
Lawyer and human rights advocate Radha Stirling, who runs the Detained in Dubai group, shared Towey's story as she explained: "The next thing she remembers is an ambulance crew and police waking her up.
"She was taken to Al Barsha police station and kept for several hours before going home again."
Prosecutors have now brought a case against Towey, who has been charged with attempted suicide and alcohol consumption. She's expected to attend court on 18 July.
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Stirling then further added on the organisation's website: "It’s amazing that authorities did not intervene for Tori’s protection, given the state her body was in when she was hospitalised the first time.
"Emirates Airlines, the Irish Embassy and the UAE medical and police services could certainly have done more to help Tori.
"She was moments from death either by suicide or at the hands of her violent rage driven husband."
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Stirling has also been in contact with Towey since her detainment as she told BBC News NI: "The Irish government is certainly stepping up in record time, we usually don’t see them come together that fast."
She added: "I’m expecting with that diplomatic push we might be able to get her home even before the court date next week, but of course we have to plan that it could go very badly and she could end up with a prison sentence."
Towey's case has also been discussed in the Irish house of Parliament, where Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said: "She has been the victim of the most gross domestic violence.
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"Her passport has been destroyed. There was a travel ban imposed on her."
The Detained in Dubai website is pleading for Towey's release as it said on its website: "We are calling on Dubai authorities to urgently drop the charges against Tori, remove the travel ban and let her fly home to Ireland with her mother.
"We are also calling on Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris, the head of Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, Ambassador Alison Milton and local TD’s, Michael Fitzmaurice, Claire Kerrane & Denis Naughten as well as the UAE’s Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Mohammed Hmoud Hamad Rahma Alshamsi to help bring Tori home."
Tyla has reached out to the Government Of Dubai Media Office for comment on this story.
Topics: Travel, World News
Niamh Spence