Dubai: A worker lost his appeal and will spend life in prison for strangling a sex worker with her shayla after he fought with her over her fees.

The Bangladeshi worker, M.K., agreed to have paid sex with his countrywoman and then they fought after she demanded Dh500, so he killed her in March 2013.

In June, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed M.K. a life sentence for intentionally killing the sex worker, whose decomposed body was found in a sandy area in Jebel Ali. M.K. appealed the primary ruling and asked the Appeal Court to acquit him, contending that he was not present in the UAE at the time when the murder happened.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif rejected M.K.’s appeal and upheld his life sentence.

The accused had pleaded not guilty before the appellate court and denied murdering and stealing the victim’s mobile phone.

“I did not kill her. I was in Bangladesh at that time. I am not connected to this case,” the accused argued in court.

A police lieutenant testified that Dubai Police were informed that a decomposed body that had been found in a sandy area at Dubai Investment Park in May 2014.

“A police team found the decomposed body of a woman who was partly covered. She had been obviously strangled since a shayla was found around her neck. We identified her from her personal identification documents that were found in her pocket. She had been living in a labour accommodation and when we questioned the workers there, we were informed that she had been missing since March 2013. Primary interrogations revealed that she had been having an affair with M.K. The records of the defendant’s employer showed that he had resigned and left the UAE in April 2013,” said the lieutenant.

A Bangladeshi worker said M.K. told him earlier that he had known the deceased for 18 months.

“I did not know the nature of their relationship. I met the suspect on a Friday afternoon and he told me that he was angry because the woman had asked him for money to travel to her country and see her family. He also claimed to me that she had threatened to dump him and find another man,” the worker testified.

Available records did not specify how or where the suspect was arrested.

The convict was cited as admitting during prosecution questioning that he agreed with the woman to have sex with her for Dh200.

“We met in Jebel Ali and had sex in the sandy area. Then she demanded Dh500 instead of Dh200. We quarrelled for a while before she told me that she would report the matter to the police. When she grabbed my shirt, I felt scared and strangled her with her shayla. I took her mobile and ran after I realised that she had died,” he claimed.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.