Death sentence upheld for Dubai killer who ‘felt no remorse’

The Appeals Court upholds the death penalty for a man who slashed the throat of a prostitute who stole Dh6,000 from him.

DUBAI // A man who killed a prostitute after she stole Dh6,000 from him had his death sentence upheld at the Court of Appeal today.

Pakistani A?K, 29, paid S?H, from Uzbekistan, Dh100 for sex at her flat in Al Mutaina in April last year.

He said she persuaded him to drink alcohol and he passed out.

When he awoke and returned to his room in Naif, he discovered was missing the cash, which he had been saving to send to his wife.

“I pleaded to her several times to return the money but she refused and repeated to me that she had taken money from many people and never returned it,” he said, according to prosecution records.

Six days later, on April 28, he returned to her flat with a 16-inch knife. The barcode was traced to Milbar Super Market, and CCTV footage showed the Pakistani worker buying the blade.

He begged the prostitute to return his money and when she refused, he began reading verses from the Quran in a bid to soften her heart. But he said she knocked the book from his hand, which infuriated him.

He pulled her out of the nightgown she was wearing and grabbed her hair. He slashed her throat three times then threw her face down on her bed.

The Pakistani took Dh200 from her and two mobile phones, threw the knife down in her flat and left. On his way home, he went to pray at a mosque. He was arrested at 2.30am on April 30 and had the victim’s money and phones.

The Pakistani insisted he had only planned to scare the woman but said “she deserved to die” and he felt no remorse.

In February this year, Dubai Criminal Court convicted him of premeditated murder and theft and sentenced him to death.

The case will now be sent to the Court of Cassation, which can either uphold or reduce the sentence.

If upheld, the death sentence  must be approved by the Ruler, after which the Pakistani will executed by a firing squad.

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