Hundreds attend the funeral of slain Yanbu girl

JEDDAH: Hundreds of citizens participated in the burial of Tala Al-Shehri and paid condolences to the parents of the girl who was allegedly slain by a housemaid on Wednesday in Yanbu. The funeral prayer was performed on Friday at Omar bin Abdulaziz Mosque.
The maid confessed to murdering the girl in preliminary police investigations.
The deceased was buried in a Geem 16 area’s graveyard. Madinah Gov. Prince Abdulaziz bin Majed attended the funeral and visited the grieving family after Maghreb prayer. The governor sat with the deceased’s father and expressed his willingness to assist the family with what they need.
The father’s employer Saudi Aramco has also sent a number of its employees to follow up the aggrieved family’s affairs and assist them during the funeral.
Tala’s father Khalid Al-Shehri said he did not know about his daughter’s death until he woke up in the hospital. He was involved in an accident on the same day the crime took place. “Never had I expected this from a woman who worked for me for years. But I believe in Qadar (Allah’s destiny).”
He said he had never noticed bad behavior in the maid during her years with his family. “When my wife called and told me she couldn’t open the apartment door (the maid and the daughter were inside and the teacher mother had just arrived from work) as it was locked from the inside, I thought something was wrong but never expected that she killed my daughter.”
Tala has three sisters. Yara and Lama are in intermediate school and Jana is in primary school. The three were with the mother when she entered the house with the Civil Defense on Wednesday. The mother collapsed and was moved to hospital along with the daughters who were in shock.
A delegation from the Human Rights Commission in Makkah participated in the funeral and met with the family. Before paying condolences to the family, the delegation visited Yanbu Prison and talked to the housemaid who only said the mother “did not like her” and nothing else. She appeared in good health.
Tala’s mother said her relationship with the maid was good and the family treated her right. She had received all her salaries.
A police source said the maid has completely recovered from the effects of consuming a detergent in a suicide attempt following the murder.