He was found guilty of murdering his wife and then trying to end his life by stabbing himself several times. A 27-year-old expatriate, who stabbed his wife to death, has lost his appeal against a 10-year prison term for a murder conviction.

The Dubai Court of Appeals has upheld a 10-year imprisonment sentence, ordered by a lower court against the defendant, a guard from Cameroon. It also upheld an additional three-month jail punishment for attempted suicide, as well as the convict’s deportation.

In October last year, the Dubai Court of First Instance found the guard guilty of murdering his wife and then trying to end his life by stabbing himself several times with a knife. Al Barsha police station was alerted about the domestic tragedy on September 7, 2017.

A 27-year-old Cameroon man, who witnessed the incident, said: “I was at my flat watching TV when my roommate (the defendant) and his wife came. I left them alone in the room. The accused was lying on the bed while his wife was busy with her mobile phone.” About 45 minutes later, the witness came back to the room and saw several men at the door.

“Those were maintenance workers. They knocked on the door and got no answer. I knocked on the door and called out my roommate’s name, to no avail. I then called his number and he did not pick up either. A repair engineer opened the door with a spare key. As the door partially opened, we saw the defendant on the floor and clearly injured. The wife was also there in a pool of blood,” the eye-witness recounted.

“They were a happy couple and I had never seen them fighting,” he added.

According to a police corporal, a murder report came from a building located on the Dubai-Al Ain Road.

“When we reached the crime scene, we found the building security staff and paramedics already there. Blood splatters were all over the room and on the walls. The bed sheets were on the floor. The husband was leaning on the bed, looking injured, with a stab wound in the abdomen and a knife next to him. A cleaver was found in the room.”

A forensic expert said the accused underwent surgery for the internal wounds he inflicted upon himself. He had six stab wounds – some of them had cut through the intestine. Those wounds could have been fatal had he not been rushed to the hospital, the forensic report stated.

The expert ruled out that the defendant could have been stabbed by another person because his hands and arms were free of any cuts.

The husband admitted to investigators that he stabbed his wife multiple times, including in her back, when she tried to run away from him. The ruling was considered final as the defendant did not contest it at the Court of Cassation within the legal deadline.

Source: khaleejtimes