Dubai court confirms death sentence for man who killed wife

Dubai: A husband will face a shooting squad after Dubai’s highest court on Monday confirmed his death sentence for killing his wife in a fit of anger after she accused him of adultery.

The Indian man, A.Q., and his Pakistani friend, R.A., lost their legal battle and will both be executed for strangling the wife in bed before putting her body in a garbage bag and dumping it in Al Fuqaa area in March 2013. A.Q. decided to kill his his wife following constant arguments.

Following three consecutive hearings at the Dubai Cassation Court, presiding judge Abdul Aziz Abdullah rejected the appeals of A.Q. and R.A. for a reduced punishment and upheld the capital punishment.

In October, the Dubai Appeal Court dismissed the duo’s appeal and upheld the capital punishment against them.

According to Monday’s ruling, the bench of five cassation judges unanimously agreed to hand out a capital punishment against the two accused.

The two killers had pleaded not guilty.

A.Q.’s father said his late daughter-in-law constantly complained to him over the phone, saying his son often beat her and cheated on her with a Filipina.

A police lieutenant said A.Q. admitted during questioning that he decided to kill the wife because he could not afford to pay her maintenance (as per Indian laws) if he divorced her.

The two friends murdered the wife while she slept.

R.A. said his confession was obtained under coercion.

The case surfaced in court for the first time in September 2013.

A Bangladeshi cleaner discovered the woman’s body in the morning while cleaning a sandy area around 8am, according to records.

A.Q.’s father said police informed him that his son and his best friend killed his daughter-in-law.

“My son had known R.A. for nearly three years and shared accommodation with him. The victim moved to Dubai 15 months before her death… she constantly complained over the phone that A.Q. constantly drank and beat her. She asked me to find him a new job. She complained that her husband was having an affair with a Filipina, and that was the main reason behind their continuous family disputes,” claimed the father.

The lieutenant said the husband became the primary suspect as he had left the country shortly after the corpse was discovered.

“Primary interrogation led to the arrest of R.A. who confessed that they strangled the wife. He admitted that A.Q. gave him a gold bracelet in return for Dh600 to buy a ticket and fly to India. R.A. claimed he warned A.Q. not to kill his wife. The Pakistani claimed that on the day of the incident he found A.Q. in an abnormal situation at his flat. He claimed that A.Q. told him that he killed his wife… R.A., he confessed that when he realised that the victim was still breathing he strangled her to confirm that she was dead,” said the lieutenant.

The ruling is final.