DUBAI // A nanny was charged with having consensual sex with her husband after giving birth but being unable to prove they were married, a court heard this morning.

MA, 26, and her husband, PF, 30, were both charged with having consensual sex outside marriage. MA is separately facing a charge of giving birth to an illegal child.

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MA denied the charges at the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours yesterday and reasserted that she was legally married.

"He is my husband, your honour, and I have a certificate to prove it," MA told the judge.

In court records, MA arrived in Abu Dhabi two years ago but absconded in May 2010 after her employer failed to pay her for three months.

She testified that she went to her consulate and told them what she had done. They arranged for her visa to be cancelled, and she moved to Dubai to take another job and live with her husband, who had been in the country for three years before she arrived.

"We have been married for five years," she told prosecutors.

MA lived with PF at his Hor Al Anz residence for several months before he had to return to the Philippines to renew his visa. She moved in with her compatriot MS until MA returned.

On May 2, 2011, she went into labour and MS called an ambulance. At Al Wasil Hospital, MA gave birth to the couple's first baby, who remains unnamed and is staying with MA in the detention centre.

PF, who is still in the Philippines, faxed his wife a copy of their marriage certificate and is having the original authenticated and shipped soon, records show.

The hearing was adjourned to July 27 to allow for the certificate to be authenticated, shipped and translated into Arabic.

salamir@thenational.ae