Dubai: Two men, who are on death row for killing the wife of one of them in 2013, were cleared on Sunday of killing a prostitute and disposing of her body between trees in 2010.
Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted A.Q., an Indian, and R.A., a Pakistani, of killing the Russian prostitute and tossing her body between trees on the Dubai-Al Ain Road in March 2010.
In February 2014, the Court of First Instance sentenced the husband, A.Q., to death for killing his wife in a fit of rage after she suspected him of adultery.
His friend, R.A., was also handed capital punishment for aiding and abetting A.Q. in murdering the wife and disposing of her body in Al Fuqa’a area in March 2013.
The duo refuted the accusation of killing the Russian woman and denied being involved in the case.
Prosecutors said A.Q. and R.A. intentionally killed the Russian before they disposed of her body in a bushy area where her body was discovered decomposed beyond recognition.
“I do not know anything about this murder…,” A.Q. told the court.
Prosecution records confirmed that the body’s decomposition made it difficult for forensic examiners to specify the cause of her death.
According to Sunday’s ruling, the duo were cleared of murdering the Russian as the evidence was insufficient.
An Indian salesman had alleged to prosecutors that A.Q. divulged to him that he had killed the Russian woman during a friend’s visit.
“The defendants, some friends and I went to visit our Nepalese friend at his residence. We consumed alcohol on the rooftop when A.Q. revealed to me that he had done something bad. When I asked him what he had done, A.Q. alleged that he was having an affair with a Russian woman. He claimed that when he suspected that she was cheating on him, he allegedly killed her. I did not take him seriously because friends and I were used to him exaggerating.
“When I did not believe him, he took out a mobile and claimed that it belonged to the victim. He showed me a few photos of them together. Later R.A. confirmed A.Q.’s claims and alleged that he had helped him. Some time later, A.Q. disappeared suddenly and stopped answering our calls after his wife came from India. Afterwards we came to know from the police that A.Q.’s wife had been killed,” the salesman claimed.
Dubai Police’s forensic examiners estimated that the woman’s body must have been discovered a week after her death.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
