Death sentence for Sharjah man who killed his wife

Sharjah - The couple lived in a rented room in a three-bedroom apartment in Abu Shagara, Sharjah

 A Sharjah court sentenced a Pakistani man to death on Monday for killing his wife in their room in Sharjah. The court said the man will be executed in the presence of his wife's family members, who insisted for Qasas (retributive justice as per Islamic Law) and refused to pardon him.
The 37-year-old accused, M.Kh., lived in a rented room in a three-bedroom apartment in Abu Shagara, Sharjah, with the victim. The couple has a son.
During the police interrogations and court hearing, the accused confessed to the crime and presented his wife's death certificate. He said he stabbed the woman on the left side of her neck and in the chest, and she died on the spot. The crime took place at 11.45pm on January 30 last year.
During the court hearing an eyewitness who lived in the same flat told judge Hussain Al Ousofi that he heard the woman screaming late in the night. When he opened the door, he saw the victim bleeding from the neck. As he entered the room, the accused walked out. "I asked the accused why he killed her and he answered 'I killed her' without giving any reason." Another woman who lives in the same apartment testified that she did not see the accused killing the woman but she heard her screaming. She also went to their room and saw the victim bleeding.
"The accused tried to run away, but I held on to him and we called the ambulance and the police," the woman told the court. The judge confronted the accused with testimonies of the witnesses, and the accused admitted that he had killed his wife and that the testimonies were correct, except that he did not attempt to run.
He claimed that he committed the crime because of constant fights with his wife. The family of the victim, however, felt that the husband had ego problems with the wife as she was the only earning member. According to the victim's sister, they were married for seven years and had a six-year-old son. A close relative who accompanied the sister to the court said the accused never worked and his wife had been bearing all the expenses. He said the victim had come to the UAE just six months before the incident and she worked in a shopping mall in Sharjah.
She then brought her husband for a month. After that, he asked her to arrange for a three-month visit visa so that he could find work. She even took a loan which the husband had promised to repay. However, after he came here, he refused to keep his promise. "Later we heard that he borrowed 40,000 rupees from the victim's sister," the relative said.
amira@khaleejtimes.com