Triple murder suspect says he was drugged, molested

He has been acquitted twice of slitting the throats of three men on the grounds that he was insane.

ABU DHABI // A worker who cut the throats of three colleagues told a court today he thought they had drugged him and sexually assaulted him in his sleep.

The man, TKhR, from Pakistan, was acquitted last year by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance after presenting medical tests showing he was not criminally responsible for the murder. But the justices ordered a diyya for each of the victims to be paid by his family or relatives, in accordance with Sharia.

Prosecutors appealed the verdict, but the Court of Appeals upheld the decision. Prosecutors appealed again to the Court of Cassation, which will issue a verdict on Monday.

In Islamic law, a person can be acquitted on grounds of lack of criminal responsibility, but the blood money must still be paid by their "aquela" – brothers, nephews from brothers' side, uncles from father's side or cousins from uncle's side.

The family was ordered to pay Dh600,000 total to the victims’ families, who had insisted on the death penalty.

TKhR, who was released to a hospital for treatment, told the court today he suspected that the three men drugged him with sleeping pills every night, then sexually assaulted him in his sleep. He said he was married and had children and felt extremely insulted that his manhood would be violated in such a way. Forensic tests showed no sexual assault.

Ali al Abbadi, who represented the defendant, asked the court to uphold the acquittal. The lawyer said his client suffered from a severe psychosis, which made him imagine the assaults.

TKhR allegedly killed the men while they slept in their labour camp in Mussafah, then mutilated their bodies. He allegedly chopped off their heads and cut one of the victims' arms.

Prosecutors argued the man was responsible for the murder because he had purchased a knife with the intent to kill. He waited until they slept and killed them, prosecutors said.

The court will either uphold the verdict or send the case back to the appeals court for a retrial.