Man knifes boss for withholding salary for sex, gets death penalty in UAE

A worker accused of killing his boss for refusing a salary increase has been sentenced to death.
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance has handed down the execution sentence to the man after he was found guilty of premeditated murder and theft.
He had been earning Dh1,000 a month, but attacked his employer after the man delayed the Dh500 salary increment which he had promised him for a long time.
Official court documents stated that the defendant had been brought by the Pakistani victim to work at his workshop in Musaffah area.
He had promised to pay him a monthly salary of Dh1,500 but when he reached here, he instead paid him Dh1,000.
After working for many months, the employer informed the defendant that his monthly salary had been increased from Dh1,000 to Dh1,500. But the boss didn't fulfil his promise.
Upon seeing that the employer was reluctant to include the salary increment of Dh500 to his pay in the months that followed, the man planned his revenge.
He went to a shop with his friend and bought a meat cleaver.
He then phoned his boss for a meeting. He told him that he wanted to go to a remote area in the city outskirts to pick something from a friend but needed his help because he didn't have transport.
The boss drove him in his car. And while on the way in a quiet area, the worker pulled out the meat cleaver and hit him with it on the head and neck.
He then drove the car and parked it on the roadside, leaving the dead man inside. The worker also took two mobile phones from the victim and his laptop and fled the scene.
The following morning, he went to his workplace as usual, pretending that nothing happened.
Municipal workers discovered the victim's body in a parked car and informed the police.
Police later arrested the worker after investigations revealed that he carried out the murder.
The CCTV cameras at the store from where the victim bought the murder weapon (meat cleaver) in the company of his friend had helped the authorities to identify the killer.
Upon police questioning regarding the meat cleaver, the worker said he bought it for personal safety.
Later, he admitted to using the meat cleaver to murder his boss. He said he did it out of anger because the man wanted to have sex with him so that he would increase his pay, but he never intended to kill him.
The Abu Dhabi public prosecutors charged the man with premeditated murder and theft.
In court, the accused retracted his earlier confession and denied planning to kill his boss.
He said the man wanted to have sex with him by force and that he attacked him in self-defence.
Prosecutors had demanded that he be given the death penalty.
The death sentence can be appealed within a period of two weeks after the issuance of the ruling.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com 

• Abu Dhabi

Ismail Sebugwaawo

ismail@khaleejtimes.com