DUBAI // A 35-year-old Algerian man has denied killing a Chinese man and stealing Dh1.02 million in cash from him in Naif last June.
Dubai Criminal Court heard that M B followed his victim, H H, 21, for three days before stabbing him to death inside the lift at his office building.
The Algerian denied a premeditated murder charge and another of robbery.
Police received a report of the murder from Indian cleaner R A, 31. The victim’s body had two stab wounds and his bicycle was with him in the lift.
The suspect was arrested carrying Dh200,000 while he was trying to escape to Oman a day later, while his wife, A M, 32, was arrested carrying Dh100,000 as she was trying to fly to Algeria along with her two children from Dubai International Airport.
The pregnant wife denied a charge of possessing stolen money, telling the court that she did not know it was stolen.
Her lawyer requested her bail but the judge denied it after she told the court she had no place to live in the UAE.
“We identified the suspect after we noticed him in camera footage entering the building at the time of the murder with a bag, then we found the bag in a toilet in a nearby building and it contained a knife,” police captain H A, 39, said.
The witness added that M B confessed willingly to the murder and said that he was facing financial difficulties and had no money to pay the hotel in which he was staying with his wife and children.
“He told us he had been hunting for someone to rob in the three days before the murder and, on the day of the incident, he accidentally met the victim in the lift and remembered seeing him the days before going in and out of exchange houses in the area, so he knocked him down with a stick then stabbed him and took his bag,” the captain said.
The defendant went to the hotel after taking some of the cash and handed the rest to his wife, telling her to take some then give the rest to his friend, A A, 43, to transfer it to Algeria, the captain said.
The Indian cleaner testified that he saw the defendant several times in the building the days before the murder. “On the day of the killing, I saw him go into the building then run out shortly after. I went to the corridor from where he came and I saw bloody shoeprints. When I followed the prints I found the dead body in the lift,” he said.
Records show that the wife confessed her husband gave her the money and that she gave Dh713,000 to her husband’s friend, A A, who was later arrested at his workplace. A A denied a charge of possessing stolen money when he appeared in court.
Syrian B H, 27, told the court that he met the defendant four months before the incident and helped him to obtain visit visas for his wife and two children.
“The visas were for one month only but they overstayed and whenever I called him he would stall and say he was looking for work or his wife was sick,” said the Syrian, who later reported them to authorities for overstaying.
“On June 4, the wife called me and we met then she handed me Dh15,000 to pay off the fines for their overstaying in the country and she told me she will pay the rest a day later and that she booked tickets for herself and her kids,” B H said.
He added that a day later he received a call from police, who told him about the murder and confiscated the money she gave him.
The next hearing will be on September 6.
salamir@thenational.ae