Man arrested for ‘hotel belt killing’ in Abu Dhabi

The offender confessed to his crime saying he found the woman was cheating on him, so he strangled her to death with his belt while she was lying on the bed in the hotel room.

ABU DHABI // An Asian man has been arrested on suspicion of killing his girlfriend by strangling her with his belt in a city hotel room.

Abu Dhabi Police identified the offender and traced him to the Western Region, where he was taken into custody.

Col Dr Rashid Mohammed Borshid, head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that the operations room received a report of a young woman found dead in a hotel room and sent police teams to the hotel to investigate. The preliminary investigation showed evidence of strangling.

A team headed by Lt Col Jumaa Al Kaabi, head of psychological crimes at the CID, found out that the hotel room had been booked in the name of 44-year-old “J.F.”, and that the victim, “M.J.”, 28, was of Asian nationality and had entered the country on a tourist visa through one of the airports.

“The team in charge of investigating the crime identified the offender, in whose name the room was booked, and tracked him down in Al Ruwais Industrial City in the Western Region, where a team of investigators arrested him in an ambush within few hours of receiving the report,” Col Borshid said.

The offender is alleged to have confessed to the crime and to having a year-long emotional affair with the victim.

On the day of the crime, he found out that she was cheating on him, so he strangled her to death with his belt while she was lying on the bed in the hotel room, slackening his hold only once she became lifeless.

The Abu Dhabi Police referred the suspect and the evidence to the Public Prosecution to conduct further investigations.