A Jordanian man in Dubai stalked his former girlfriend and murdered her outside her home, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
On July 13, police were alerted by a resident and security guard to a man walking out of an apartment building in blood-stained clothes.
The man was later found that same day in his car near Ibn Battuta Mall where he surrendered to police.
The court heard how the man, 36, and his former girlfriend – a Ukrainian woman – had been in an on-again-off-again relationship since 2017.
"We met at a restaurant in Abu Dhabi. I helped her financially and we travelled places together," the man said.
In 2019, after pressure from his family, the man ended the relationship.
The two reconciled a few months later, but separated again after the man found out the woman had joined a dating app.
“She went back to Ukraine, but I couldn’t forget her. I wasn’t happy with my decision to break up with her because I truly loved her,” the man said.
The woman later returned to the UAE and rented an apartment in Damac Hills and the two started dating again.
However, the woman did not give the man her new address, instead he stalked her to find out where she lived, searching the entire building to find her apartment.
“I found out the apartment she lived in because she always kept her shoes outside,” he said.
He found a spare key outside the woman's home and made a copy to enter the apartment in her absence.
“I wanted to see how she lived. I found out she didn’t have a mirror and bought her one,” he said.
When the woman learnt of his intrusion, she ended the relationship, refused all advances and told him that she was seeing someone else.
A few days before the murder, he went back to her apartment and hit her. By way of apology, he returned the following day, cleaned her apartment and left her food and flowers.
The woman complained to the police who took an undertaking from him to stay away.
On July 13 he went back to her apartment, but found the locks had been changed.
He waited in the staircase with a rope and a knife, and when the woman returned he stabbed her in the neck and slit her throat several times.
The man admitted a charge of premeditated murder. The next hearing is on March 22.
