'Killer' tried to be sent back home, Abu Dhabi court hears

Man accused of fleeing to Oman after killing his girlfriend was arrested after turning himself in as an illegal immigrant in a bid to be deported, hears court.

ABU DHABI // A labourer who strangled a woman, then hid her body inside a plastic bag, was arrested when he turned himself into an Omani police station as an illegal immigrant, the Criminal Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutors said the labourer, 28, from Bangladesh, had fled from Abu Dhabi to Oman after murdering the woman. He later went to a police station hoping he would be deported to his home country. However, UAE police had issued a notice through Interpol calling for his arrest and he was charged with murder.

The labourer had been involved in a five-year relationship with the freelance house cleaner, 35, but the two fell out when she became pregnant with his child.

He would not propose to her so she decided to abort the baby by drinking a herbal solution.

She later found out that he had married another woman, so she went to his labour camp to confront him. She demanded he divorce his wife and marry her instead, the court was told.

He rented a room on the top floor of a house in Bani Yas and told his girlfriend to meet him there. When she arrived he strangled her. He then tied her hands and feet with rope and put her inside a plastic bag, covering her body with a blanket. The body was only discovered when the owner of the house reported the smell.

The case was adjourned to October 24.