Visitor to spend life in jail for businessman's murder

Dubai: An Uzbek visitor will have to spend 25 years in jail for premeditatedly killing and robbing, alongwith two others, his compatriot businessman, a court ruled.

The Dubai Court of Cassation confirmed 27-year-old killer's, K.A., initial verdict, 25 years in prison, after he was found guilty of premeditatedly murdering his 40-year-old compatriot, Mohammad Haidarov.

The Public Prosecution had charged K.A. his compatriot associates, S.L., 26, and E.A., 25, with premeditatedly killing the businessman, stealing his moneybag and dumping his body in the desert. The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced them to life in prison.

The victim's body was left to decompose in the desert near Jebel Ali before police found it. The killers also cut Haidarov's finger and stole his diamond ring. The 27-year-old was the only defendant who appealed to the Cassation Court.

Police said the defendants lured the victim into withdrawing cash from his bank account to buy a car. On the eve of the purchase, they drove to a remote and unlit desert area where they repeatedly stabbed him to death. They stole his bag full of money, the ring and fled.

"I came here in January last year to report him missing after we lost contact with him for four months. The CID contacted me and asked me to fly to Dubai to identify my brother's body," Abdul Ahad Haidarov, the victim's brother told Gulf News earlier.