ABU DHABI // The Canadian accused of killing her former partner had aborted his baby before he left her for another woman, the Criminal Court heard on Tuesday.
R Q, 24, is on trial with her current boyfriend, A B, from Tunisia, for murdering A S, an Egyptian, on May 21 of this year.
A A K, a CID officer, told the court that police investigations had found overwhelming evidence against the couple.
“R Q knew the victim for a very long time and they had had a very strong relationship,” he said. “They had an illegitimate relationship, went to cafes and nightclubs together and they were both consuming drugs and alcohol.”
He said A S was from a wealthy family and paid R Q a daily allowance for drugs and alcohol.
She had become pregnant by him and had had an abortion, he said.
Soon after, A S finished the relationship and took up with a Moroccan woman.
This began a series of disputes between the former lovers.
The policeman recalled an incident when A S was leaving the Millennium Hotel when he spotted R Q outside with another man.
“A fight began and A S stabbed the man with a knife,” he said, adding that they did not report the incident to the police because they were all drunk.
R Q met A B at a nightclub in Abu Dhabi and the relationship developed. They were both drugs users, said A A K.
“She used to tell A B about her past with A S ... and this charged his thoughts and they both planned to take revenge on him, “said the policeman.
“In the beginning she just wanted revenge but after a while she decided she wanted to get rid of him.”
R Q bought a meat cleaver off the internet to use for the murder.
When in the victim’s house A B found it was too large to use, so he killed him with a kitchen knife instead, said the officer.
Police found A B’s fingerprints at the scene and arrested him five days later as he shared a meal with R Q at a cafe.
He later showed police the bag where he had stashed the murder weapon.
R Q was arrested at a later date after police read messages on A B’s phone.
While she was not present during the murder, she admitted to driving A B to the scene, said the policeman.
Defence lawyers Dr Mohammed Al Khazraji and Ali Al Abbadi asked the policeman how he had such detailed information on the planning and method of the crime.
He said that information came from a number of informants, but they refused to testify in court.
Both defendants deny their connection to the death and said they only confessed under police threats and torture.
“How did you guide them to the bag of knives then?” the judge asked A B.
A B insisted that police had coerced him into admitting he knew where the bag was.
The judge also pointed to a police film in which the defendant re-enacted the murder.
“Ask police first how many times they had to reshoot? They reshot four times and were dictating to me how to act,” said A B.
Despite the claims that the victim was a drug user, A S’s sister testified that post-mortem results from her brother’s body showed he had not taken any illegal substances.
The case was adjourned until November 12.
hdajani@thenational.ae