Dubai: A man admitted in court on Sunday that he intentionally killed his lover’s husband by mowing him down with his car and then burned the body with petrol.

“Yes I killed him,” said the 32-year-old man from Comoros Islands, when he entered a guilty plea before the Dubai Appeal Court on Sunday.

Meanwhile his 22-year-old countrywoman pleaded not guilty and denied the accusation of conspiring with her husband’s best friend [the accused] and inciting the latter to commit the murder in October 2016.

In March, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed the accused a death sentence and jailed the wife for 15 years.

The defendant was accused of luring victim to his car, striking him with a rock, mowing him down and killing him before setting him on fire.

“No I did not …,” the woman defendant contended before presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif.

“Didn’t you conspire with him or encourage him to kill your husband?” presiding judge Al Sharif asked the female convict.

“No I didn’t incite or encourage him. I had nothing to do with the murder,” she responded in courtroom 20.

The court-appointed lawyers asked presiding judge Al Sharif to adjourn the case until they prepare their defence arguments.

Court records said a watchman saw the body of the deceased on fire near a warehouse in Al Ghusais and alerted Dubai Police and the Civil Defence.

The victim’s body was found to have been completely burnt when law enforcement officers arrived at the murder scene.

Police investigations revealed that the wife and her lover had conspired to kill the husband.

The couple were tried before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court for having unmarried sex.

The accused had lured the husband to his car, tied his hands and legs and then pounded his head with a rock. When he noticed that the victim was still breathing, he struck his head repeatedly on the car and ran his car over him several times, said records.

Then he took the body to an area in front of the warehouse, poured petrol and set it on fire.

The 32-year-old convict argued earlier that the wife had incited and provoked him to kill her husband.

The victim’s 85-year-old father testified that his son had been married to the woman for four years and they shared his accommodation with their two children.

The appellate court reconvenes on April 29.