“I received a text message from her mother in the Philippines saying that Leonora is pregnant. She requested us to help her go home, adding that Leonora has money for her ticket,” John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, told Arab News on Sunday. He forwarded Leonora's text message to Arab News.
Arab News contacted the embassy official handling Leonora's case and he denied the allegation.
“The last time I saw her, I did not notice anything that indicated she was pregnant, although she admitted that she had a boyfriend,” the official told Arab News on Sunday.
He also said that it is now only a matter of days or weeks before her departure and that she would be repatriated unless the authorities find out about her pregnancy.
Leonora, currently detained at Al-Nisa prison in Riyadh's Malaz district, reportedly left the villa where she and six other housemaids stayed in Majma, some 250 km north of Riyadh, after escaping from her employer in Riyadh. She was dropped off in Diriyah district by a Pakistani identified only as Arshad.
In an earlier report, the embassy said that Leonora and another maid, Sofia (name changed) left Majma together, but later it was clarified that it was only Leonora who was dropped off by Arshad. Arshad, it added, had dropped off Sofia in Diriyah much earlier.
One early morning in the second week of February police raided the villa in Diriyah where Leonora and Sophia were found with three Indian nationals, who were arrested. Leonora and Sofia were taken to prison.
“Sofia was shouting because she was drunk and the residents in the area could have called the police to report the incident,” the embassy official said. He added that while Leonora was sentenced to four months in prison and lashes, Sofia was merely detained. Both have completed their prison terms.
“Both of them have been recommended for royal pardon,” the official said.