A motorist who killed four people while racing down a road in Al Ain will pay Dh600,000 in blood money, an Abu Dhabi court has ruled. The man, who was racing another driver, on a main road in Al Nasiriyah on May 8 last year will also spend a year in jail. The two men were driving modified cars and racing illegally when the defendant clipped the other motorists, causing the second car to spin out of control and hit a lamp post. The driver and passenger in that car each died. The defendant also lost control of his car and hit two women who were crossing the road, killing them both. Al Ain’s court of first instance sentenced the surviving driver to pay Dh200,000 in blood money for each of the two men in the other car and Dh100,000 for each of the two women for manslaughter. At the time, the compensation awarded to the family of an unlawfully killed woman was half that of a man. <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/new-law-guarantees-equal-death-compensation-payments-for-families-of-men-and-women-1.921280">This changed in October last year</a>. The defendant was also fined Dh10,000 for reckless driving, racing without permission, and for damaging both cars. He was fined an additional Dh500 for not adhering to traffic signs and for illegally modifying his car. The defendant appealed the verdict but had his appeal rejected. He then raised the appeal to the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation, arguing that his defines was not taken into consideration and denied that he caused the crash. The court rejected his defence, saying the accident report proved that both drivers were recklessly racing which caused them to crash and lose control. The first court’s ruling was upheld.
