Dubai: A businesswoman has lost her appeal and will spend 10 years in jail for stabbing her boyfriend to death with a 25cm-long knife after he rejected her marriage proposal.
The 34-year-old Russian businesswoman stabbed her Palestinian lover three times in the chest and killed him in August 2014 after he refused to marry her.
The woman was drunk when she stabbed the victim and slept beside his corpse on her bed before she called the police the next day.
In June, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Russian woman of premeditatedly stabbing the victim to death.
The accused appealed her primary judgement and pleaded not guilty before the Appeal Court where she claimed that she had acted in self-defence after the victim assaulted her.
On Wednesday, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the defendant’s appeal and said she will be deported after serving her jail term.
The woman argued in court that she loved the deceased, and that she had lent him Dh500,000 and bought him two cars.
She also has to pay Dh100,000 in compensation to the victim’s successors
A policeman said the accused was found crying bitterly beside the victim’s body when police arrived at her flat where the crime happened.
“I communicated with her over the phone since she reported to us that she had murdered someone. She was devastated and her right arm was covered with a white bandage soaked with blood … she opened the door when I arrived. She sat on the floor and clutched the victim’s legs. She said she loved him and that she had lent him money and bought him two cars but he refused to marry her. She said that she discovered that he was married and had been exploiting her financially as he took between Dh10,000 and Dh20,000 every now and then.
“On the night of the incident, the woman said they had a heated argument over their relationship. Then each of them left for a bar and consumed liquor. She claimed that when she returned to the flat after 90 minutes she had another fight with the victim over the money she had lent him,” said the policeman.
A police lieutenant testified that the defendant was drunk when she returned to the flat and stabbed her boyfriend who was asleep.
“She said she slept on his chest till noon when she called the police,” said the lieutenant.
A Syrian friend, who was the last person to see the victim shortly before his death, testified: “We left a coffee shop at 9pm. We met again at the same place at midnight and he seemed depressed and he told me that he was not feeling comfortable with the Russian any more. He told me he wanted to break up with her. Then we went to a pub. Later I called him at 3.30am and he told me that he was about to enter the flat. At noon the next day, the defendant told me over the phone that she had killed the victim. She was a jealous woman.”
A Jordanian friend said the accused constantly asked the victim’s friends if he had relationships with other women.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.