Dubai: A company owner faces 15 years in jail after a court convicted him of premeditatedly killing his second cousin, who got his teenage girl pregnant after raping her.

The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 47-year-old Palestinian defendant, T.B., guilty of premeditatedly killing his distant cousin, A.B.

The killer's lawyer Yusri Sa'ad, of Al Reda Advocates and Legal Consultants, defended that T.B. beat the victim twice on his head after being humiliated and provoked into rage by the latter.

Outburst

"The jury concluded that the murder did not happen under emotional outburst, as claimed by the defence lawyer. The suspect had preplanned and premeditated the victim's murder. Due to the circumstances of the case, convict's conditions and the victim's behaviour, the jury has treated the accused with leniency… as per article 98 of the Federal Penal Code," said Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout in the verdict sheet.

Handing out yesterday's verdict in the absence of T.B. in courtroom nine, Presiding Judge Barghout said the accused will be deported after the completion of his punishment. The jury also referred the civil lawsuit, lodged by the victim's family, to the Dubai Civil Court.

"Minutes before the incident, the victim ridiculed T.B. and provocatively told him that his family in Jordan had learnt that he [A.B.] raped his teenaged daughter and made her pregnant. The victim told T.B. that he would humiliate him like he did to his daughter," Sa'ad argued in court.

"He even went further and asked the suspect to make him a partner in his company. Unable to hold back his anger, T.B. grabbed a pipe and beat A.B. twice on his head. The latter dropped dead," Sa'ad added.

Premeditated

T.B., who owns a company, had earlier pleaded not guilty to premeditatedly killing his distant cousin who had raped his 17-year-old daughter.

Yesterday's judgment is still subject to appeal within 15 days.

Gulf News learnt yesterday that the defence lawyers will appeal the judgment soon. Advocate Sa'ad said: "We ask the court to modify the charge from premeditated murder to killing, because the factor of premeditation is groundless … on the day of the incident, my client took A.B. with him to a number of places for business purposes.

"Lastly, they went to the suspect's warehouse in Al Quoz and when the victim provoked and humiliated T.B., the latter lost control and battered the back of A.B.'s head with an iron pipe."

However, the jury dismissed the advocate's argument regarding the premeditation factor, and concluded that the accused pre-planned and premeditated the murder.

When he defended himself in court T.B. said: "I totally deny this fabricated charge … I am not guilty."

Prosecutors charged the accused with plotting the premeditated murder over family and business disputes. Sa'ad defended that his client "tried all possible means to fix the matter after his daughter carried A.B.'s child following the rape".

"Had my client premeditated intention to kill A.B., he would not have paid him Dh100,000 to buy gold for the wedding and offered to pay the couple to move to Jordan to cover up the scandal," the lawyer said.