Wife-killer to serve 15 years in jail, pay Dh200,000 in UAE

The Ras Al Khaimah Criminal Court of Appeal has ordered a GCC national, found guilty of murdering his wife, to serve 15 years in jail and pay Dh200,000 blood money.
The lower court earlier sentenced the suspect to life in prison and ordered him to pay the same amount to the heirs of his murdered wife.
As per court records, the case unfolded when the husband had a heated argument with his Arab wife, following which he physically abused her, and smothered her to death with a pillow in the bedroom.
He then moved the body to the kitchen of a building attached to their villa and set the kitchen on fire to cover his crime and mislead the law enforcement bodies.
As per the autopsy report, the oxygen level in the victim's blood was 27 per cent upon her death.
"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, proving her prior suffocation," said the public prosecution.
Some blood stains were also found at different parts of the crime scene, while three fires were found at the kitchen. "These were all attributed to an inflammable source like matches."
A prosecution witness told the court that the couple started developing disputes from the first week of their marriage.
"He used to beat her and tried to strangle her," she said. "He prevented her from visiting her family and stopped spending on her, which made her file for divorce."
On the day of the crime, they had a heated argument because she refused to accompany him while visiting his family, she added. "He was up in arms and killed her." "He was so jealous and could not imagine her divorcing her or seeing her marrying another man."
The Criminal Court of First Instance found the husband guilty and ordered him to serve a life sentence, and pay the blood money to the family of the victim. Both the husband and prosecution challenged the verdict at the higher court where the man denied the charges while the prosecution sought capital punishment.
However, he denied killing his wife before the police, prosecution and the courts.
He then asked the court to order a DNA examination of the fingerprints reported on the neck and chest of the victim to verify the identity of the murderer. The RAK Criminal Court of Appeal turned down the defence lawyer's pleading.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com