Emirati woman’s killer caught 10 years after murder

A Comoros man who murdered an Emirati woman reputed for her benevolence got away with it for nearly 10 years before he was caught by Dubai’s police, the emirate’s deputy police chief said. Major General Khamis MatarAl Mazinah said the 51-year-old man murdered the woman, in her 50s, in 2002 after she caught him trying to rob her safe at her house in Satwa area. Investigation into the murder failed to produce results during that time but Dubai’s police did not give up efforts to unravel the crime, he said. Quoted by the semi official daily Alittihad, he said Dubai’s police have recently received information about the suspect who had worked at a public establishment in Dubai during 1980s before moving to a nearby emirate for another job. ”He was arrested and he denied involvement in the murder at the beginning...but he later collapsed and confessed,” he said. ”He said that he was inside the woman’s house after jumping over the wall when he came face to face with her...he said that she tried to scream, prompting him to try and calm her down...he told investigators that she suddenly collapsed and dropped dead after he put his hands round her neck.” Mazinah said the killer failed to steal any money as he could not open the safe, which was found locked by police at the time of the murder. “All neighbours and friends questioned just after the crime said she was a benevolent woman who gave much to the poor…many women used to visit her as she was a respected and liked lady,” he said. “We could not have any clue at the time of the crime and all investigations reached a dead end…but the murder remained an obsession to investigators and we were sure that some day the murderer will fall in our hands.”