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Man Gets Life Term for Killing Wife

DUBAI — The Criminal Court of first Instance on Tuesday sentenced a Filipino security guard to life in jail for killing his wife on suspicion that she had an affair. The 34-year-old convict has to spend an additional month in jail for consuming alcohol. He will be deported after serving the jail term.

When he first appeared in the court on November 25 last year, the Filipino had said he did not mean to kill his compatriot wife when he stabbed her with a knife. The incident happened on May 2 last year. The couple had a heated argument and the man stabbed her in the chest and neck. The man’s roommate told interrogators that he, his wife, his brother, a friend and the couple — all Filipinos — shared a room in a villa located in Al Tawar area. The defendant had stabbed the woman earlier also suspecting that she was having an affair. “At that time, he stabbed her next to her breast and she filed a complaint at the Rashidiya police station but she withdrew it later,” the witness said.

“Around 4am on May 2, we saw the woman opening the door and falling. She cried for help as her husband kept on stabbing her in the chest. We asked him to stop but he told us not to intervene. He threatened that he would kill us too. He smelt of liquor. Finally, we managed to snatch the knife from his hand.” When police officers came to the crime scene, the man was in bloodstained clothes. He admitted to stabbing his wife because he suspected she was having drinks with people whom he did not know.

Jail Term for Murder

DUBAI — The Court of Appeals on Tuesday sentenced a 26-year-old Russian visitor to 15 years in jail for murdering an East European man. The court also sentenced him to seven more years in jail for theft and using drugs. He will be deported after serving the jail terms. The Russian pleaded not guilty to the charge of premeditated murder when his case came up before the Court of Appeals two weeks ago for the second time after its earlier verdict convicting him was quashed by the Court of Cassation. When Presiding Judge Moustapha Shenawi confronted him with the charge, the defendant denied killing the victim, saying he found him dead because of heroin overdose. However, he admitted to wrapping the body in two plastic bags, putting it in a suitcase and hiding it inside the trunk of a car. The Court of Appeals had awarded the defendant 15 years in jail followed by deportation on December 21, 2008. The Criminal Court of First Instance had acquitted him for lack of evidence on September 17 last year. However, he and his accomplice, a 32-year-old unemployed Uzbekistani woman, were each sentenced to four years in jail and deportation for using narcotics.

Presiding judge of the lower court Fahmi Mounir had said the acquittal was based on the results of the forensic medicine report. “The report could not tell whether the victim died before or after he was put in the car trunk. It did not specify whether the man died of suffocation, battery or drug overdose,” the judge had observed.

As per the court records, Saeed I. was originally accused of beating to death the East European man on October 13, 2007. The assault was linked to the theft of the victim’s mobile phone and wallet. The prosecution said the defendant hid the body in a car’s trunk near the Capitol Hotel after the victim lost consciousness. The police found the body a week later. They apprehended the defendant from Sharjah.

He admitted to knowing the victim for some time and said that on the day of the incident, he went to the East European’s house in Karama area where both used hashish. “The defendant told us that he bought a suitcase, plastic bags and adhesive tapes. On his way towards Jumeirah where he was planning to dump the body, the car broke down and he left it near the Capitol Hotel,” a police officer said. When the police found the body, it was badly decomposed, which made it hard for the forensic
experts to ascertain the accurate cause
of death.

Driver Acquitted

DUBAI — The Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday acquitted a 35-year-old Pakistani bus driver of molesting a four-year-old Indian schoolgirl. He was cleared of the charge for lack of evidence. According to the court records, the incident allegedly happened on November 30 last year after all other children had got down from the school bus. The girl was sitting in one of the back seats. The driver asked her to sit near him. She later told her mother that the driver molested her and hurt her with a key. When she asked him to stop, he told her that her mother was not around and that he would do the same again. On hearing her account, her mother called the police. The girl identified the defendant during a parade of suspects at the police station.

Fake Dollar Case

dubai — The Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday acquitted a Nigerian visitor of possessing fake US dollar notes for circulation.

The 30-year-old defendant was caught with 32 counterfeit bills of $100 at a money exchange office on November 2 last year. During the trial, he pleaded not guilty, saying he was not aware that the notes were fake. An Indian accountant said on November 2 last year, he was on duty at the money exchange office in Naif area. The defendant came to the office around 9.30am and asked him to exchange $14,200 for dirhams. The witness said on verifying the currency notes, 32 bills of $100 were found to be fake. He informed the manager and the latter called the police.

Reframe Charges Plea

dubai — The lawyer of a Filipino accused of raping a woman compatriot pleaded in the Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday to reframe the charges. Nabih Badr pleaded that the charge of rape be changed to illicit consensual sex. Badr is representing a 33-year-old Filipino worker accused of raping a housemaid after he allegedly lured her into his apartment in International City on September 21 last year. “There is no sense in charging him with rape as she went willingly with him to his apartment where they spent time together and had dinner,” Badr said.

“As per the case papers, after the alleged rape, she asked him to give her a lift to the airport to pick her sister up. How can a woman accompany a man who had just raped her?”

The counsel referred to the medical report, which said there was no physical injury from the purported forced sexual encounter. “There was no evidence of injury or any marks of resistance on the body of the alleged rapist.”

In her statement, the woman alleged that on that day, she called the defendant, whom she knew, to pick her up from her workplace at Arabian Ranches. She wanted him to drop her at the airport to receive her sister whose plane was to arrive at 9.30pm.

She said he stopped the vehicle at a petrol station on Emirates Road and offered her a juice. After drinking the juice, she felt dizzy and unable to move.

On the way, he told her that there was still time and he wanted to go to his place to have dinner. Once they reached his apartment, they had dinner, after which he lied on his bed and took off his shirt. When she tried to leave, she found the door locked. He switched off the lights out, overpowered her and raped her. Afterwards, they went to the airport and received her sister. She was too afraid to tell anyone about what happened. The following day, she went to a police station with her sister and lodged a complaint. The verdict is expected on May 12.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

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