Deceased's lover charged with sex out of wedlock

Man was having affair with woman found dead in a hotel room, hears court.

DUBAI // A man whose lover died from a drug overdose during an overnight tryst at a hotel has been charged in court with sex outside of marriage.

The Emirati SM, 22, had been having an affair with the Iraqi woman TE, also 22, for the past two years, according to court records.

He said he picked her up in Sharjah on August 26 this year and went to a hotel apartment in Jumeirah 1.

When he woke the next day he found TE on the floor. He said she was breathing heavily and he could not wake her. An ambulance was called and medics tried to resuscitate her for about 40 minutes but were unsuccessful.

A forensics report found the cause of death to be an overdose of drugs, including tramadol.

SM was arrested and told police he and TE had a sexual relationship after meeting in Jumeirah two years previously.

He said on the night before the TE's death they watched television together but did not have sex.

He denied causing injuries found on the woman's chest, right thigh, left ear and right foot. He said she had fallen in the bathroom earlier in the evening and had seemed drunk at the time.

"She walked like she was drunk but I didn't smell alcohol on her," he told police. However, he had seen her taking "some medications".

He said TE told him she had had a fight with her mother and wanted to meet him because she did not want to be at home.

SM did not appear in the Misdemeanours Court to enter a plea yesterday. The next hearing was scheduled for November 20.