DUBAI // A man sentenced to life in jail in 2002 for murdering a prostitute and stealing her phone has told a court that he is a changed man after spending 15 years behind bars.
The Indian was 37 on February 1, 2002, when he tried to strangle then stabbed Alma Kazanova after a dispute over her price for having sex.
He had paid her for sex on three previous occasions but, on the day of the incident, as they sat in the defendant’s car in a remote area, the two argued about money.
He hit her, put both hands around her neck and then stabbed her repeatedly in the back of the head.
When he first appeared at Dubai Criminal Court the man denied it was premeditated murder as he did not mean to kill her.
“When we fought in the car, I was speeding and she suddenly opened the door and wanted to jump out, so I pulled her back in from the string of her purse,” he said.
“She accidentally hit her head as she slammed the door and the string was somehow wrapped around her neck.”
But medical reports confirmed that the woman had been murdered and the injuries inflicted could not occur the way the killer had claimed.
Afterwards, he dumped her body near Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai then used the phone he had stolen from her to call his family back home. The phone was traced after police found the woman’s body and managed to identify her.
“We found the phone and her Simcard in it inside the killer’s house,” said a policeman.
On October 28, 2002, Dubai Criminal Court convicted him of premeditated murder and theft and sentenced him to life in jail for the murder plus one year for the theft, followed by deportation.
Now he has launched a bid to gain early release from prison after being granted a certificate of good conduct. On Monday, he pleaded to Dubai Criminal Court to release him early, saying that he had changed and that 15 years in jail had taught him many lessons.
A verdict is expected on April 27.
salamir@thenational.ae
