Life term to gardener for killing employer

A gardener in Dubai has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his elderly employer.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard that the 29-year-old expatriate defendant killed the Emirati victim by strangulating him with a bed sheet because of what the defendant claimed as bad treatment and nonpayment of full salary.

According to records, in June 2020, the victim’s wife left him alone with the defendant at their house in Al Muraqqabat area and went outside. When she returned after two hours, the defendant told her that the victim had fallen on the ground.

“I thought he had fallen again as he was sick and suffered from diabetes. I asked him [the defendant] to call the ambulance and called the victim’s sons. My husband had an eye surgery and also couldn’t hear well,” said the 42-year-old wife on record.

Fabric around neck

Dubai Police were alerted after the paramedics noticed a fabric around the victim’s neck. This led the family to suspect the defendant, who had escaped that very day. “The victim’s wife said that the gardener worked illegally for them as he was on someone else’s sponsorship. He was arrested the next day and admitted to killing the victim,” an Emirati policeman said, according to records.

The defendant said the victim’s son had hired him to look after his father for a salary of Dh2,000 per month. However, the victim only paid him Dh800 for two months before reducing his salary to Dh600.