UAE- Jobless man kills wife to avoid alimony

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A jobless man allegedly strangled his wife to death because he could not afford paying her alimony after divorcing her, a court heard. The 23-year-old Indian, A.B., who fled to India right after the murder but was arrested later, is believed to have had long time problems with the victim and he planned to get rid of her, as per the testimony of his Pakistani friend, identified as R.S. (a 28-year-old vendor, who is also charged with helping him kill the victim). The two men stood trial in the Court of First Instance on the charge of premeditated murder of the victim by strangling her with their hands as she was sleeping. The woman's body was discovered by a cleaner in a sandy location in Al Foqah area on Dubai-Al Ain road in the morning of March 11. The body was wrapped in a big, black garbage plastic bag, with the upper part of the body out of the bag. A.B.'s father said that his son and R.S. were very close friends and were colleagues, as well. They used to share the same accommodation before the victim's arrival in Dubai to work, a few months before she was killed. The father said that the victim used to complain about A.B. beating her up and drinking alcohol. She was also not happy with his friendship with R.S. He added that the victim was upset because her husband was cheating on her with a Filipina, which was one of the major reasons for their fights. A police lieutenant said the police operations room was informed about an Asian woman's body found on the Al Ain-Dubai road. The police after identifying the victim, tracked her husband. "We learnt that he fled the country shortly after the murder," the officer said in the prosecution investigation. The police tracked A.B.'s accomplice R.S. who confessed that A.B. had given him a gold necklace and borrowed Dh600, which he needed to purchase an airline ticket. "R.S. confessed that A.B. wanted to divorce the victim but feared the Indian law which would oblige him to pay her a monthly alimony which he could not afford," the officer added. On the day A.B. left for India, he sent a blank text message to R.S. as they had agreed before. When R.S. reached A.B.'s place, he found the latter behaving weirdly as he knew he had killed his wife. The officer said that R.S. admitted that he checked on the victim and found her still breathing and dying. He then finished her off by lying on her and squeezing her neck with his hands. The pair then dumped the body in a remote location. R.S then dropped A.B to the airport the following day and was caught shortly after that. The forensic expert said the body had been left for eight hours before it was discovered. The victim's hands and feet were tied up so it would be easy to move it. The cause of her death was strangulating by severely squeezing the neck.