Dubai: A woman, her son and two others were accused of kidnapping and killing a businessman and burying his body in the desert where it was found partly mummified.

A Chinese visitor was said to have flown into Dubai from New Zealand after his 60-year-old businessman father told him over the phone that he had lost his passport while transiting via Dubai in August 2017.

After having lost contact with his father, the 29-year-old visitor lodged a missing person’s report, according to records, at Dubai Police’s office at the airport.

The 29-year-old was believed to have told the police that after losing contact with his father, he received a voice message alerting him that his father was in Thailand and had done some money transfers there via WeChat.

Primary police interrogations showed that the 60-year-old businessman arrived in Dubai on August 4 last year accompanied by a 47-year-old Chinese woman, who worked with him.

Further interrogations showed that the 47-year-old woman and her three countrymen took the businessman out from his hotel and travelled by a car that turned out to have been rented by one of those men.

According to records, the surveillance cameras showed that the car was driven to a rented villa in Jumeirah Circle, which was raided by police and found to be empty.

Police identified the four suspects, as a 47-year-old Chinese woman, her 27-year-old son and 26-year-old nephew, and a 25-year-old visitor.

An arrest warrant was issued in the name of the quartet after airport records confirmed that they had left the country on August 8.

Police apprehended the four suspects while they were flying via Dubai International Airport in transit on September 15.

When confronted with police findings, the woman alleged that the businessman had allegedly raped her while she was with him at the hotel and then they took him to the villa where he died after suffering from nervous breakdown when they blamed him for his alleged sexual assault.

Police recovered the businessman’s body from the desert where the quartet had alleged to have buried it.

Forensic examiner’s report confirmed that the body was found to be partly mummified and decomposed.

Prosecutors accused the four Chinese suspects of kidnapping their countryman, premeditatedly murdering him and using WeChat application to steal his Dh75,000.

Jail wardens did not present the 47-year-old woman suspect before the Dubai Court of First Instance where she was scheduled to enter her plea on Sunday.

The son, nephew and a friend of the woman were present in courtroom three but presiding judge Mohammad Jamal did not read out the charges against them.

The deceased’s son told prosecutors that his mother called him at his residence in New Zealand and told him that his father had been missing.

“I realised that my father had done money transfers via WeChat and I also received a voice message from him … I could not open the message but it showed that his location as Thailand. I flew in to Dubai and lodged a missing person’s complaint. I also told the police that my father was supposed to fly with his business acquaintance [the woman suspect] via Dubai in transit as they were heading to Portugal,” he told prosecutors.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that they identified the suspects and issued their arrest warrants.

“The suspects were apprehended at the airport as they were transiting via Dubai. During investigations, they woman suspect claimed that the businessman had raped her … then she told her son and nephew about the incident. According to the suspects’ claims, they allegedly kidnapped the 60-year-old from his hotel and when they had a heated argument in car he collapsed and died. Then they wrapped the body, put it in a box and buried it in desert near Abu Dhabi,” the police lieutenant told prosecutors.

The deceased’s wife and son have lodged a civil lawsuit against the suspects and are claiming Dh21,000 in temporary compensation.

The 27-year-old suspect’s lawyer asked the court to hear prosecution witnesses’ statements.

Presiding judge Jamal said the court will appoint lawyers to defend the rest of the suspects when it reconvenes on September 9.