DUBAI // A Dubai Municipality worker allegedly killed a man by striking him on the head with a meat cleaver after the victim attacked him with a knife, the Dubai Criminal Court was told.
Pakistani S K denied a charge of premeditated murder when he appeared in court on Monday morning.
“I just hit him but I didn’t mean to end his life and I was the one to call for an ambulance,” S K told judges.
Witnesses living in the same workers’ accommodation as S K told prosecutors that the night before the murder, S K and the victim, J K, also Pakistani, were seen laughing and having dinner together.
At nearly 6.30am on January 28 this year, police received a report of a murder at the accommodation in Al Muhaisnah 2.
“Before I made it to the location, I was contacted by a fellow policemen who informed me that the victim had died in an ambulance before reaching hospital,” testified 28-year-old Emirati police lieutenant M K.
S K was also injured and was taken to hospital. M K said a bloodied meat cleaver was found in the room where the murder had taken place. Blood was also found on a stick and the handle of a hammer.
Investigations revealed that the victim was not a municipality worker but often came to sleep in S K’s room.
“He used to come almost every weekend and sleep over,” said Pakistani worker M S, 36.
Prosecutors said S K confessed to fighting with the victim after he asked him to stop sleeping at the accommodation as he was not a municipality employee.
The two men engaged in a first fight before S K grabbed the cleaver while J K held a knife.
S K was hit on the arm and retaliated by striking J K on the head, neck and chest with cleaver causing him severe injuries.
The next hearing will be on April 18.
salamir@thenational.ae
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Company profile
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Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
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Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
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A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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