Dubai expat buries aunt's chopped up body across UAE desert

(Image used for illustrative purposes only)

A Filipino butcher has gone on trial in Abu Dhabi after being accused of killing his aunt over a financial dispute.
He allegedly killed his aunt over a debt of Dh10,000 and then dumped her body parts in desert areas of Dubai and Ajman to cover up his crime.
Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance on Thursday heard that the woman's decomposed decapitated body was found in a desert area of Al Warqa'a on Academic City Road.
The victim, Manormeeta Salwaro Dadi, worked as a domestic helper for a family in Abu Dhabi.
The murder was discovered on May 27, 2016 when a Dubai Municipality cleaner informed the police about finding a headless body in a highly decomposed state. Dubai Police arrested the Filipino who worked as a butcher in Dubai from his home in Abu Hail area in September last year after identifying the victim's identity, three months after the murder.
Investigations suggested that the defendant had borrowed Dh10,000 from the victim and killed her when she demanded her money back.
The man had admitted to Police that he took a cleaver and a knife from his home and drove to Abu Dhabi in his friend's car where he met the woman.
The man said he had convinced the woman to get into the car after which he drove her to a deserted area in Musaffah area as the pair argued over the money.
"He said he stabbed her multiple times in different parts of her body until the woman died," a prosecutor told court.
"The man then covered the woman's body with a towel, wiped the blood splattered on the windshield and covered the car seats with a plastic bag and drove back to Dubai with the body."
After reaching Dubai, he cut off her head and hands, burnt them and buried them in a sandy area in Ajman, while dumping the headless body in a desert area in Al Warqa'a.
The Filipino told the police and prosecutors that he killed the woman because she kept on demanding back the money he owed her.
He however denied the charge of murder in court.
The defence lawyer, on Thursday, told the court that he was trying to contact the victim's family in Philippines to ask if they could pardon the killer in return for blood money.
The defence lawyer also requested the court to summon the person who lent the victim the car, he used in the murder, and the cleaner who found the victim's body in the desert. 
He also requested details from Roads and Transport Authority Dubai to verify whether his client's car had passed through Salik heading to Abu Dhabi and back to Dubai between May 24 and 26 when the murder allegedly occured.
The trial was adjourned to a future date.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi

Ismail Sebugwaawo

ismail@khaleejtimes.com