Decapitated chainsaw murder ‘victim’ may have killed himself, claims lawyer

Man accused of slaughtering his roommate with a chainsaw was tortured into confessing, hears court.

ABU DHABI // A labourer thought to have been decapitated by a killer wielding a chainsaw may have killed himself, a court has heard.

Indian Z H had admitted killing his roommate, K R, in a revenge attack after he was repeatedly raped.

But the Indian’s lawyer, Hassan Al Aidarous, told the Criminal Court on Thursday that the confession was obtained under duress.

He said the admission was unreliable and contradicted other evidence.

Mr Al Aidarous said none of the three medical reports following the labourer’s death in 2006 proved he had been murdered.

“The first report suggested the labourer’s death was suicide,” the lawyer said. “The second report conducted by forensics in 2007 said it was not possible to determine if the death was suicide or murder.”

A third report concluded only that the labourer was “most probably” murdered.

“There is no ultimate evidence that the labourer’s death was caused by a crime,” Mr Al Aidarous said. “Court rulings are based on ultimate truth and not on doubt.”

The Indian confessed to hacking his roommate’s head off with a knife but medical reports ruled he had been decapitated with a chainsaw.

The Indian said his roommate was sitting during the killing but medical reports stated he had been lying down.

“The defendant’s fingerprints were not found anywhere on the murder tool,” the lawyer said.

Witnesses described the labourer’s blood as being splashed all over the crime scene but the lawyer said no blood had been found on his client’s clothes or body.

“How could a whole room be splashed with blood and none of it reach the killer?” he asked.

When the judge asked the accused man whether he had murdered his roommate, he said he had been on holiday and was not at his labour camp.

“They arrested me somewhere else, not on the site,” he said.

He then denied knowing the dead labourer or that he had shared a room with him.

The case has been delayed for six years while the court found the labourer’s blood relatives, Mr Al Aidarous said.

“The blood relatives have not been found until now ... and the defendant never asked for their pardon to begin with because he will be acquitted, so why all this stalling?”

Mr Al Aidarous said prison police had invalidated the arrest procedure by questioning the man after prosecutors referred him to prison.

A verdict is expected on November 28.