A man’s 10-year jail sentence for his part in the rape and murder of a compatriot has been extended to life in prison.
The Pakistani convict, 21, will be deported upon the completion of his jail term.
Dubai's Court of Appeal increased his sentence after hearing how he and his accomplice killed their victim by stuffing his mouth with sand before burying him alive in the desert.
At the emirate's Criminal Court last October, the convict denied the murder charge levelled against him. He said he had been present but did not take part in the killing.
He was found guilty by the court and sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder. The court also sentenced him to an additional year in jail for theft.
His accomplice, a 31-year-old Pakistani man still at large, was sentenced to death for murder and received another two-year sentence for stealing the victim's belongings.
He was sentenced in his absence but the ruling still stands should he be caught.
The victim’s body was found on March 16 last year, two weeks after he went missing.
Police were called to a labour accommodation in Jebel Ali after some workers found the man's feet — that had been partially eaten by stray dogs — protruding from the earth.
An autopsy revealed that the man had been raped before he was suffocated.
CCTV footage showed the victim and his two attackers together at a petrol station shortly before his death.
Police identified the men and arrested one of them. Investigations revealed that the elder accomplice had left the country a day after the murder.
During questioning, the 21-year-old convict said his partner plotted the attack and asked him to arrange a meeting with the victim.
They met the victim near his residence in Jebel Ali and drove to a remote area where the 31-year-old raped him.
"My partner accused the victim of defaming him, then the two argued after which he asked me to rape him but I refused, so he raped him," the 21-year-old convict told judges.
Both men then used a rope to tie the man up while the accomplice stole the victim's wallet and mobile phone. They then killed him.
