Court bins murderer’s early release plea

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A tailor who took part in the murder and robbery of a company manager must serve the remaining 10 years of his life term, a jury ruled.

The Asian tailor, 36, with the help of an Asian trader, 39 and the latter’s compatriot businessman, 46, brutally murdered the manager inside the Naif area company around 10:15pm on Apr.20, 2003.

They decamped with his Dhs300 cash, two mobile phones and an ATM card that the tailor and the trader used to withdraw Dhs5,500 from his account, as per a complaint filed at the Naif Police Station.

The Criminal Court in 2004 jailed the tailor and the trader for 25 years plus deportation. It sentenced the businessman on April.22, 2018 to the same. The court has rejected the tailor’s early release plea.

In police and prosecution records, a period after the murder, the deceased’s relative received his bank statement and realised someone was using his ATM card. He showed the statement to the police.

A bank’s ATM camera captured the trader using it. Police issued circulars. On Jun.18, 2003 a man contacted police and directed them to his shop in Naif. Cops seized the card in his trousers’ pocket.

During interrogation he revealed the businessman sought their help in robbing “a money shop owner.” That day the trader hired a getaway car. The businessman stashed a knife under his clothes.

The tailor carried a plastic pipe inside a sack that he wrapped in newspapers.  The trader monitored the situation at the company. When all clients left, he contacted both assailants to storm the company.

The manager was talking over the mobile when the tailor repeatedly whipped his head with the pipe until he collapsed. They searched for valuables. The manager woke up. The businessman knifed his neck.

Fifteen minutes later, the businessman contacted the trader to pick them up. The businessman gave the trader Dhs100. The tailor gave him an ATM card. They disposed of the SIM cards and fled to Ajman.