Dubai court upholds life sentence for prostitute killer

The Bangladeshi labourer was tracked to the woman's badly decomposing body by DNA evidence he left on a cigarette butt.

DUBAI // A labourer who murdered a prostitute over a payment dispute has lost his appeal against his life sentence.

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the sentence for Bangladeshi MK, 27, this week.

Prosecutors said he strangled the prostitute, whose identity was never discovered, with her shayla after paying her only half the Dh100 fee she charged.

Police found her badly-decomposed body at an abandoned house in Al Mankhool on May 24 of 2012 following a tip-off. The body, which was lying on a sofa covered by a wooden plank, had become so decomposed her skull and arm bones were visible.

Forensic experts matched traces of DNA found on a discarded cigarette butt found next to the dead body to M K.

During interrogation, M K admitted to the crime, saying he killed the prostitute because she threatened to send a gang of men to beat him up when he refused to pay her the full fee.

He was found guilty of premeditated murder at Dubai Criminal Court in January 2013.

He will be deported after completing his prison term.