Man suffocates wife with pillow in their UAE house

Ras Al Khaimah - The prosecution asks court to change his life term to death sentence.

Ras Al Khaimah Public Prosecution has requested the Criminal Court of Appeal to change a convict's life sentence to death sentence, as well as order him to pay blood money.
The man was convicted of killing his wife.
As per court records, the Gulf national had a heated argument with his Arab wife after she had asked for a divorce. He physically abused her and smothered her to death with a pillow in the bedroom.

To mislead the authorities, he had moved the woman's body to the kitchen of an annex attached to their villa, and set the kitchen ablaze to cover up the crime.

"He set fire to some pieces of cloth in the kitchen to mislead the investigation teams," the prosecution said.

As per the autopsy report, the oxygen level in the victim's blood was 27 per cent upon her death, they added.

"This means she was already dead before the fire broke out, and her death was attributed to a sharp drop in blood circulation and breathing, caused by suffocation earlier."

Some blood samples were also found at the crime scene, while three fires were recorded in the gutted kitchen, they stated.
"These were all attributed to an inflammable source like matches."

The Criminal Court of First Instance found the husband guilty and ordered him to serve a life sentence, as well as pay the due diya 'blood money' to the heirs of the victim.

Both the husband and prosecution challenged the verdict in a higher court where the man denied the charges, while the prosecution sought capital punishment and maximum diya.

However, the defence lawyer told the court that his client (husband) had denied killing his wife before the police, prosecution, and both the lower and higher courts.

He asked the court to order a DNA examination of the fingerprints found on the neck and chest of the victim to determine the identity of the murderer.

"All the evidences presented against my client are based on unverified allegations and assumptions," the defence lawyer said.

"This is apart from the contradictory testimonies of the prosecution witnesses," he added.

"There is not a single conclusive technical evidence against my client," he further argued, underlining that all rulings in criminal cases must be based on conclusive evidence.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com

• Ras Al Khaimah