Dubai: A construction worker has been jailed for 15 years for strangling his co-worker to death with a turban after the victim failed to “cure his bewitched wife”.
The wife of a 22-year-old Indian worker had attempted suicide and when he discussed the issue with his co-worker [victim] the latter told him that she might be bewitched and that he could save her by magic.
The defendant paid Dh350 to the victim to cure his wife but when he failed, the two quarrelled over it on several occasions. In January last year, the accused strangled his co-worker with his turban.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of premeditatedly killing his countryman at the labour accommodation in Al Ghusais.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal also jailed the accused three additional months for stealing the victim’s Dh200.
According to Sunday’s ruling, the defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The accused had pleaded innocent and denied the accusation of murdering his co-worker.
“We fought, but I had no intention to end his life. I was under severe emotional pressure due to what had happened to my wife. I was not feeling normal … we fought and I beat him and I stole his money,” the accused contended in court.
The accommodation’s Indian security guard testified that as part of his job he was checking the rooms when he discovered the dead body.
“When I opened the room door, I spotted the victim’s body with his face down on the bed and his hands tied with a blue turban behind his back. I informed the police instantly,” he said.
A police major said they were informed about the murder at 7.45am.
“We rushed to the location and discovered that the incident had happened inside a room that the suspect, the victim and a third person shared. We questioned the third person, who claimed that he left for work at 4.45am and the other two men had been inside … he said he knew nothing about the crime. The defendant was arrested a day later and claimed that his wife fell very ill and tried to burn herself in a suicide attempt. The defendant said the deceased convinced him that his wife must have been bewitched and offered to cure her by magic for Dh350. The accused said the victim handed him a cloth filled with an ash-like substance for his wife to drink with water. When the purported magic failed to cure his wife, according to the defendant’s statement, his relationship with the victim became deteriorated and they constantly quarrelled. He claimed that on the day of the incident, the victim belittled him and they fought before he strangled him,” he testified.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.