ABU DHABI // A labourer who chopped his room-mates into tiny pieces using a meat cleaver and a chainsaw cannot be held criminally responsible because he is insane, a court has ruled.
The giant labourer was bullied by his three roommates, who constantly made fun of him.
Prosecutors said his torment became so great that he began imagining that his room-mates had drugged and raped him at night while he slept.
The delusion overtook his mind and he bought a cleaver and a chainsaw and waited for them to go to sleep.
He killed them all, including two who tried to escape after learning what had happened to the first victim.
The Criminal Court ruled the labourer could not be held criminally responsible as medical reports showed he was psychotic. Prosecutors appealed but the Appeals Court rejected it.
They then appealed at the Cassation Court arguing that the labourer must have been aware as he planned the crime by buying a cleaver and chainsaw and waited for his room-mates to fall asleep before killing them.
However, the Cassation Court upheld the earlier courts' decisions but ruled that the man's tribe should pay the blood money of Dh600,000, as per Sharia.
hdajani@thenational.ae
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
The Comeback: Elvis And The Story Of The 68 Special
Simon Goddard
Omnibus Press
