Man jailed in UAE for strangling wife to death, to pay Dh200,000 blood money

Abu Dhabi - He admitted to killing his wife during a heated argument.

A man, who strangled his wife with a ghutra (headscarf), was sentenced to five years in jail for murder. He was also ordered to pay Dh200,000 in blood money, the UAE's top court has ruled.
The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi upheld the lower courts' rulings that handed the sentence to the Arab man and increased the blood money from Dh100,000 to Dh200,000.
Court records show that the woman had briefly left their home after a family dispute. At about noon, on the day of the incident, she called her husband and told him she would take their daughter on a trip abroad. 
According to the man's testimony, he asked the woman to come home so they could talk and resolve their differences before planning a trip. "When she reached home, she shouted at me and also insulted me. She then entered the bedroom, gathered her clothes, jewellery and passport," he said. 
"As she was getting out of the house, she pulled our daughter by the hand, trying to take her away by force. The child screamed and I had to intervene to stop her."
He admitted that when a fight broke out, he used his ghutra to strangle the woman until she died. He then went to his mother's house and told her he killed his wife before surrendering to the police. 
In court, he claimed to be suffering from mental problems and that he wasn't aware of what he was doing. However, a medical report confirmed that he was sane and could be held responsible for his actions. 
The Criminal Court of First Instance earlier sentenced him to life in prison and ordered him to pay the blood money worth Dh100,000.
Both the man and prosecutors challenged the ruling at the appellant court, which reduced the jail sentence to five years but maintained the blood money.
When the case was heard at the UAE's top court, the judge said in his ruling that according article 1 of Decree Law No. 1 of 2019 (determining the legal rights to blood money of the deceased), the blood money that must be paid to the family of the victim, male or female, is Dh200,000.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com
 

• Abu Dhabi