An Irish air stewardess has been left stranded in Dubai after being charged for attempting suicide following alleged domestic abuse.

Tori Towey is banned from leaving the UAE, where she works for the Emirates airline, and is charged with attempted suicide and drinking alcohol.

The 28-year-old, from Boyle in County Roscommon, said that she tried to take her own life after her South African husband allegedly attacked her, leaving her with severe bruises and injuries.

She survived but was told she would face criminal charges at a police station.

Her passport has been blocked, meaning she cannot return to Ireland, and her case is due to go to court on July 18.

’I’m desperate to go home to Ireland and put all of this in the past. I’m asking the taoiseach to please help us,” Ms Towey said, speaking through the Detained in Dubai advocacy group.

On Monday, her plight was raised in Ireland’s parliament, the Dáil.

“She’s under incredible stress”, said Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader. “Tori is a Roscommon woman, and she wants to come home.”

Speaking under parliamentary privilege, Ms McDonald said that Ms Towey had been a victim “of the most gross domestic violence”.

Simon Harris, Ireland’s taoiseach, said he would be happy “to intervene and see how we can support an Irish citizen in what sounds to be, based on what you tell me, the most appalling circumstances”.

The Irish department of foreign affairs is providing consular support to Ms Towey, who moved to the Gulf state in April last year for the job with Emirates, where she met her husband.

On Tuesday, Dubai authorities offered Ms Towey a lawyer, after diplomatic pressure from Dublin.

Ms Towey is currently staying in a rented property in Dubai with her mother, Caroline, who has flown to the UAE to be with her daughter.

Radha Stirling, the chief executive of Detained in Dubai, said: “Tori’s experience is nothing short of tragic.

’We are calling on Dubai authorities to urgently drop the charges against Tori, remove the travel ban and let her fly home to Ireland with her mother.

’Strangely, the UAE has gone to great public relations efforts to promote alcohol as legal in the country. In reality, people are still regularly charged with alcohol consumption and possession.”

Anyone found guilty of attempting suicide in Dubai faced a £1,050 fine or six months in prison before 2019, when it was downgraded to a £210 fine.

The Gulf state also relaxed its alcohol laws to allow tourists to buy alcohol in state-controlled shops, which were previously only accessible for licence-holding residents.