Dubai: A Russian businesswoman lost her final appeal and will spend 15 years behind bars for fatally stabbing her boyfriend with a 25cm-long knife after he refused her marriage proposal.
The 35-year-old Russian was too drunk when she knifed her Palestinian boyfriend three times in the chest and slept beside his corpse on her bed before she called the police the next day in August 2014.
On Monday, the Dubai Cassation Court rejected the defendant’s appeal and upheld her 15-year imprisonment after she had pleaded not guilty and sought to have her imprisonment reduced on grounds of leniency.
Dubai’s highest court rejected the defendant’s final appeal and upheld her punishment.
Presiding judge Mustafa Al Shennawi said the accused will be deported following the completion of her punishment.
In her final appeal, the defendant contended that she did not intend to kill the victim and claimed that she acted in self-defence after he assaulted her.
She allegedly said in court that she loved the victim and had lent him Dh500,000 and bought him two cars.
The blood parents’ [successors of the victim] lawsuit was referred to the Dubai Civil Court.
A policeman said the accused was found crying profusely beside the victim’s body when police arrived at her flat where the crime happened.
“I spoke to her over the phone since she reported to us that she had killed someone. She was devastated and her right arm was covered with a blood-soaked bandage … she opened the door when I arrived there. She was sitting on the floor while holding the victim’s legs. She said she loved him and that she had lent him money and bought him two cars but he refused to marry her. She said that she discovered that he was married and had been exploiting her financially as he took between Dh10,000 and Dh20,000 from her every now and then.
“When the incident happened, the accused said they had a heated argument over their relationship. Then each of them left for a bar and consumed liquor. She claimed that when she returned to the flat after 90 minutes she had another fight with the victim over the money she had given to him,” said the policeman.
A police lieutenant testified that the accused was drunk when she returned to the flat and stabbed her lover who was asleep.
“She said she slept on his chest till noon when she called the police,” said the lieutenant.
A Syrian friend, who was the last person to see the victim shortly before his death, testified: “We left a coffee shop at 9pm. We met again at the same place at midnight and he seemed depressed and he told me that he was not feeling comfortable with the accused any more. He told me he wanted to break up with her. Then we went to a pub. Later I called him at 3.30am and he told me that he was about to enter the flat. At noon the next day, the defendant told me over the phone that she had killed my friend. She was a jealous woman.”
A Jordanian friend said the accused constantly asked the victim’s friends if he had relationships with other women.
Monday’s ruling is final.
