Dubai A cleaner has been accused of killing the niece of his boss during a fight at the latter’s flat while seeking assistance to resolve his labour dispute with his employer.
The 32-year-old Filipino cleaner was said to have resigned from the hotel where he worked, before the management asked him to pay Dh6,000 to accept his resignation in August.
The cleaner visited his countrywoman boss’s flat to ask her to help him convince the management not to pay the Dh6,000, according to records, when he had a heated argument with the niece and stabbed her to death.
The boss was not present in her flat when the scuffle happened between her niece and the 32-year-old.
The cleaner instantly rushed to his brother’s residence and asked him to call the police because he had killed someone.
Police arrived at the brother’s place and took the cleaner into custody.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of stabbing the Filipino niece in her neck and killing her.
The victim had only been in town for a week and was about to be hired as a nurse in Abu Dhabi.
The Filipino suspect pleaded not guilty and contended before the Dubai Court of First Instance that he did not intend to kill the victim.
Defending himself before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal, the suspect said he indulged in a heated argument with the victim and scuffled with her.
“During the scuffle, the knife landed on her neck but I did not intend to kill her … it happened by mistake,” he contended in courtroom three.
The suspect’s Filipina boss claimed to prosecutors that the victim had been staying for a week at her flat before the incident happened.
“She was about to get hired as a nurse and was supposed to travel home until her visa gets processed. I was the suspect’s boss at work … when he resigned from the hotel, the management fired him. The suspect had been visiting the human resources department and trying to convince them to pardon him from paying Dh6,000. He also contacted me and asked me to negotiate with the management or help him resolve that issue. The suspect and other co-workers used to come over to my flat to dine and spend some time … we were friends and used to cook together. A week prior to the incident, I saw him in a supermarket and he asked me to help him … I told him that I would try,” she testified to prosecutors.
The suspect’s brother claimed to prosecutors that his brother came to his place and asked him to call the police because he has stabbed someone.
The 32-year-old cleaner was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that he stabbed the victim in her neck but maintained that he had not intended to kill her.
The trial continues.
