DUBAI // A man beat his former girlfriend with a baseball bat before stabbing her to death and setting her workplace on fire.
The Kenyan, 29, a shipping inspector, has pleaded guilty to murder and destruction of property.
Dubai Criminal Court heard on Sunday that the victim had recently broken up with her boyfriend and moved out of their apartment in Sharjah.
She was at work at an office in Silicon Oasis in March 2016 on the day of her death.
“A co-worker opened the door and in came the defendant, holding a cloth in the shape of a ball,” said an Indian colleague of the victim, aged 29.
“He talked to the victim angrily in their native language before he lit the cloth with a lighter and threw it on the carpet.”
She and her co-workers fled but the suspect grabbed his former girlfriend.
“We heard her screaming and we heard things getting smashed in the office,” the witness said. “I went out to escape. There was so much smoke that I couldn’t see clearly.”
The woman said that she stumbled on the victim’s body while fleeing.
“There was a knife stuck in her neck. The defendant was not there. I ran out of the office and told my co-workers on what happened.”
“The defendant said he had problems with his girlfriend and tried to patch things up, but she refused,” said an Emirati policeman.
The next hearing has been scheduled for March 16.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
