RIYADH: An Ethiopian housemaid, believed to be mentally unstable, tried to kill a Saudi boy Friday night by stabbing him with a knife while he was sleeping at home in the capital, according to a report.

A witness — a man and a relative of the boy — said the maid entered the room and stabbed the boy several times. The boy sustained injuries to the neck, throat and face.

The mother intervened but the housemaid wouldn’t listen to her. A struggle ensued with the mother trying to take the knife away from the maid.

“The struggle continued for some time with the housemaid shouting ‘death! death! death!’,” the witness said.

He said he intervened and took the mother and her son out of the house. “The mother’s dress was stained with blood,” the report quoted him as saying.

The boy was rushed to the National Guard’s King Abdullah Children’s Hospital for treatment while the housemaid was arrested.

Reacting to the incident, a Saudi businessman said that he has housemaids from Asia and has avoided hiring Ethiopians. He said that the killing of two young girls by Ethiopian housemaids in their care on separate occasions some time back struck fear in his heart.

“This is the reason why a number of Saudi and expat families got rid of their Ethiopian maids two years ago,” he said.