A man who killed his cousin after the latter demanded that he pay Dh 400 in debt has recently been sentenced with death penalty by the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court.
The man was found guilty of premeditated murder as the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court upheld the rulings of the lower courts as per a report from Khaleej Times.
According to the court documents, the man had a heated argument after his cousin demanded to pay back the Dh 400 that he owed. Both were working as shepherds at a farm in Abu Dhabi.
On the same day after the argument, the defendant came to the victim’s room during the evening with an axe and a hard, blunt object.
“The man used the tools to hit his cousin on the head and in the neck several times, which caused his death,” said prosecutors.
The man then removed the clothes of the victim and tied a rope around the legs and dragged the body to hide it near his boss’ farm. The defendant then dug a shallow hole to bury the body.
In his further attempts to cover up the murder, the defendant also stole the victim’s phone and hid it in his room, as per investigations done by the police.
When the boss noticed that the victim was missing, he asked his workers to look for him. The body was found at a nearby farm after one of the workers smelled a stench where the victim was buried under the sand.
The defendant admitted the crime of murder to the police and the prosecutors. The victim’s family refused to pardon the defendant in exchange for blood money, leading both the Criminal Court of First Instance and the Appeal Court to sentence the defendant to death.
The man attempted to have Abu Dhabi’s top court, the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court, reconsider his case, but the earlier rulings were maintained.
In the UAE, death sentences are executed only upon the approval of the President.
