UAE: Expat worker brutally murders garage boss over leave dispute, jailed for life

The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced a worker to life imprisonment for killing a garage owner over a leave dispute.

The case dates back to June 2020, when workers of a vehicle repair garage found their manager dead in his office - with stab wounds to the neck and abdomen, and severe head injuries.

According to police investigation details, an officer reached the site of the crime after receiving a report about the murder in a garage in Dubai's Al Quoz Industrial Area 2.

Recounting the crime site, a cop said that he found the victim lying in a pool of blood with his neck bent and his face smashed. Injuries on the upper part of his body indicated that the victim had been beaten and stabbed. The officer also retrieved a blood-stained medium-sized knife, scissors and an iron hammer at the murder site.

During interrogation, the victim's colleagues said they left the workplace for 20 minutes to buy some things. On their return, they found the garage entrance door locked from the inside, so they entered through the back door - when one of them spotted the owner's blood-soaked body in his office.

The cop added that he suspected one of the workers, who was not present when the body was discovered. The accused man of Asian origin (from Eastern Europe) was arrested near his country's consulate in Dubai.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime, saying that he visited his country’s consulate to make arrangements to leave the country.

He told the police that on the day of the incident he had an argument with his boss (victim) over annual leave as the worker wanted to return to his homeland, and had asked the victim to book a return ticket.

He stabbed him and smashed his head with a hammer.