UAE | Crime

Dubai car park attack: Esther murderer loses appeal

Defendant fails to get four-year prison term commuted

By Bassam Za’za’, Legal and Court Correspondent
Published: 15:38 November 4, 2012

Image Credit: Supplied
Esther Wanjiru Mwikamba

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Dubai: The man who beat a Kenyan woman to death in a Dubai car park has lost his appeal.

He failed to have his four-year imprisonment sentence commuted after a court confirmed his liability over beating her to death.

The Dubai Appeal Court upheld on Sunday the primary judgment [four years in jail] against the 23-year-old Emirati defendant, A.A., who beat 29-year-old Esther Wanjiru Mwikamba and caused her death.

The defendant claimed he did not intend to kill Esther.

A.A. appealed the primary judgment and sought to reduce his punishment. Meanwhile, prosecutors appealed to the appellate court to toughen the punishment.

“The court has rejected the two appeals and confirmed the four year imprisonment against A.A.,” presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif said upon pronouncing Sunday’s judgment.

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Two charges

Prosecutors accused A.A. of beating Esther to death without having the intention to do so. He was additionally charged with molesting Esther’s 28-year-old friend, A.J., also of Kenya, by groping her private parts shortly after the girls walked out of a five star hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road.

A.J. testified that the incident happened around 3.30am after she and her friends left a nightclub.

“The suspect touched my back, then he stood in my face. He looked at me daringly and groped my top. When I asked him why he did so, he replied because his skin colour is like mine and that’s how dark-skinned people do.

“I was stunned with his reaction. Then his friend pulled him away and apologised for his behaviour. The friend told me that the defendant was intoxicated.

“I went to my car but when I looked back, I saw Esther on the floor, the suspect beat her brutally. I called for help,” A.J. claimed.

Prosecution records said A.A. was outraged and assaulted the victim because she stood up for her friends and confronted him when he had molested them.

How defendant was tracked down

Police tracked down the defendant from the car plate number.

“I beat her but I never had the intention to kill her. I did not molest the other woman,” A.A. claimed when he defended himself in court.

According to the accusation sheet, prosecutor Ahmad Al Attar said A.A. punched Esther in her face. She fell down, her head hit the ground, then he kicked her repeatedly on the head.

On March 20, forensic reports said Esther succumbed to head injuries after battling for her life for nearly 31 days at the intensive care unit of Rashid Hospital. Esther remained in a coma for one month after the assault.

The accused was jailed for three years over the fatal assault and one year for sexual harassment.

Sunday’s judgment remains subject to appeal within 30 days.