Mechanic admits to murder

Man admits to killing his partner, after making an earlier claim that she had stabbed herself to death.

DUBAI // A man who claimed that his partner had stabbed herself to death has admitted killing her, after an examination of her body ruled out suicide. RS, 37, a Sri Lankan mechanic, pleaded guilty at the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday to premeditated murder. He said he was under the influence of alcohol when he plunged a 25cm knife into his partner's abdomen following a heated argument in January last year. He was arrested a month later.

"It would have been impossible for the woman to inflict such damage to her internal organs and plunge the knife in on that trajectory," said Ashraf Hassan, the head of the Dubai Police forensic laboratory. Bruising around the wound showed that the knife had been driven in with more force than a woman of her small build could have mustered, he said. The knife had no fingerprints on it and was found wrapped in bedsheets, both of which pointed towards her partner being the killer.

The defendant's flatmate, TA, said: "We heard a loud scream and went to check and we saw the woman lying on the floor, on her back in RS's bedroom with blood coming out of her stomach and mouth," said TA. He told the court RS told him it was suicide and that he needed his help in cleaning the knife and calling the police. RS told the police she had killed herself. "They both had problems with seeing partners, and on that night she had followed him as she suspected him of seeing someone else," added TA. RS had been refused bail and remains in police custody until a second hearing later this month.