Men who robbed woman before she fell to her death lose appeal bid


Salam Al Amir
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Two men jailed for three years for robbing a woman who then fell to her death lost an appeal against their sentences.

The two Uzbek men and a third compatriot, all aged between 24 and 35, met the victim at a nightclub in Dubai and agreed to pay her Dh1,000 for sex.

The trio and the woman, whose age and nationality were not disclosed in court, were seen on CCTV entering a hotel apartment rented by one of the defendants in Al Qusais.

Footage then captured two of the men running from the hotel shortly after.

Police received a report of a woman falling to her death from the third floor of the hotel.

“Upon inspection, we found minor knife wounds on both her hands and dust on her clothes,” said an Emirati police captain, 31.

He said investigations revealed that she was trying to escape after being locked up by the men in the apartment after an argument.

She tried to jump onto the next apartment’s balcony but fell, the court heard.

The two men were accused of holding the woman captive and of stealing Dh2,300 from her. They were charged with confinement, theft and having consensual sex with the victim.

Dubai Appeal Court upheld their three-year jail sentences.

The man who booked the room was arrested after the hotel receptionist gave his details to police.

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More from court:

British man sends alarm bells ringing after escape bid at Dubai police station, court hears

Former DP World manager must pay Dh5 million fine over bribe plot

Massage card distributor jailed for police officer attack

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During questioning, the 31-year-old said he and his two compatriots met the woman at a nightclub and agreed to go to the hotel to have sex, but that he then left the apartment.

The defendant said he then received a call from the woman asking him to come back. When he returned he found the emergency services at the scene.

“I asked the defendant to call his two friends and ask them to meet with him back at the hotel. When they arrived, we apprehended them,” said an Emirati police major, 35.

The other two men turned up drunk, he said.

Investigations revealed the pair had fought with the woman after she tried to leave the apartment, after receiving a call from another customer.
When the row escalated, they threatened her with a knife. She received wounds to both hands from a struggle.

The two men will be deported after their serving their sentences.

The third man was convicted by a misdemeanors court of consuming alcohol without a licence.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Australia 580
Pakistan 240 and 335

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