Court delays verdict in cable theft murder case

Eight men are charged with killing a warehouse security guard in order to steal the cables worth Dh50,000 on the black market.

DUBAI // A Dubai court yesterday postponed its verdict for eight men accused in a theft of cables that turned deadly.

The Pakistani defendants could face the death sentence. They are charged with killing a warehouse security guard in order to steal the cables worth Dh50,000 on the black market, but their verdict will not be announced until February 7 because the presiding judge, Hamad Abdel Latif, yesterday said he wanted to review the case further.

The men - AB, 32, a driver; SK, 26, an accommodation supervisor; and four labourers, MA, ZA, FA and FK - planned the raid on Green Oasis contracting company, prosecutors say. Two additional men, SA and AA, have been charged with possession of stolen goods.

According to the charge sheet, in October 2010 the defendants proceeded to the company's Nad al Sheba storage site in two cars, then cut power to the facility by disabling an electric generator.

The men then hid, waiting for a guard to come to restore power, according to the charge sheet. When he did, they attacked him, tied him up and gagged him. When the guard screamed for help, one of the defendants picked up a rock and beat him on the head until he died, it is alleged.

In court, the six defendants admitted to the theft but denied killing the guard. The two accused of possessing stolen goods also denied the murder charge.

Sami al Shamsi, the Bur Dubai chief prosecutor, has requested the death penalty for all the defendants.

According to the prosecutors' case file, on October 17, Ali al Suwaidi, a police captain with the criminal investigation department, began looking into a crime at the warehouse.

AB was arrested in Sharjah and brought to Dubai for questioning.

During interrogation, prosecutors say, he confessed to officers that he was contacted the day before the crime by SK and agreed, along with the four labourers, to steal the cables.

AB told the officers that he waited in a car while the defendants went in to steal the cables. He said he was called to help load the cables, and while doing so was informed of the murder.

Police later traced the cables to SA and AA, who are accused of buying the goods for Dh16,300.

SA and AA told investigators that SK contacted them and agreed to sell them 800kg of cables for scrap metal.