Three men sentenced to life for businessman’s murder

Dubai: Three visitors have been sentenced to life, followed by deportation, for the premeditated murder of a businessman in Dubai.

The Pakistani trio aged 30, 32 and 46 had flown to Dubai specifically to seek revenge against the businessman, in connection with the death of one of their brothers in 2005, after a woman notified one of them of the businessman’s whereabouts via Facebook.

She allegedly told one of the visitors to contact her husband for more information, which he did.

Upon learning of the businessman’s whereabouts, the man persuaded two of his compatriots to accompany him to Dubai.

The trio rented a car and tracked the businessman’s movements before killing him with a knife and hammer in a parking lot in Al Ghusais on December 7, 2017.

A witness who saw two of the suspects fleeing the scene, leaving the victim lying on the ground, called the police.

The trio were arrested at a check-in desk at Dubai International Airport while they were buying tickets to fly back home.

One of them had knife injuries on him.

Prosecutors accused the trio of premeditated murder and the 34-year-old husband of the woman was charged with aiding and abetting them.

The husband was sentenced to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation.

A police officer told prosecutors that the suspects were identified when their descriptions matched those provided by the Indian witness.

“We identified the suspects as one of them was injured,” said the officer. “During questioning, the 32-year-old suspect said that he paid Dh5,000 in advance to his accomplices to kill the businessman. He promised to pay them Dh10,000 more after the murder,” the officer added.