Woman seeks SR35m in baby swap case

A Saudi woman has rejected a court sentence ordering the Ministry of Health to pay her SR1.7 million ($460,000) in damages for a mistake involving a baby swap that led her to live with the wrong family for nearly 35 years. Uhoud said she had appointed a lawyer to demand SR35 million.

The 35-year-old Uhoud from the western Red Sea port of Jeddah filed for damages at a civil court against the Ministry of Health last week blaming it for the mistake that also led another girl to live with the wrong family.

Uhoud had lived with a rich family for nearly 35 years until a woman made a remark during a party that brought together the two families about the stark resemblance between Uhoud and the girls of the poor family.

“The remark caused furor and controversy and it never died away. The two families then decided that their daughters should have a DNA test, which revealed the shocking reality — the rich girl is the real daughter of the poor family and the poor girl is the actual daughter of the rich family.”

After hearing her case last week, a court in Jeddah ordered the Ministry of Health to pay her SR1.7 million, based on a compensation of SR50,000 for every year. But Uhoud now wants one million Saudi riyals for every year.

Saudi newspapers said Uhoud demanded compensation for the psychological damage resulting from her living with the wrong family for 35 years, her deprivation of her real family, the death of her mother and the resulting change of her lifestyle since she has just moved to live with her real poor family.

Uhoud also told court that she had not been able to get married because of her dark colour, which was quite different from the other members of that family.
“Uhoud has rejected the court sentence and appointed a lawyer to seek SR35 million in damages,” Alwatan newspaper reported on Saturday.

It quoted the lawyer, Rayan Mufti, as saying he would ask for SR1 million for every year Uhoud had spent with the wrong family.

“This is the minimum we can achieve for a woman who is now suffering from a real tragedy because she has moved to live with a poor family and at the same time she has been deprived from the family she had lived for 35 years… she has also not seen her father who has died,” he said.

The paper did not say whether the other girl, Zain, who had lived with Uhoud’s real family, would take similar legal measures against the Ministry of Health. But it noted that this girl who had lived as poor for 35 years has now moved to live with her real wealthy family in the same city.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.