Husband jailed for killing pregnant wife

A court in Abu Dhabi sentenced an Arab man to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of murdering his wife, newspapers reported on Sunday.

The man had been sentenced to death before the verdict was overturned and changed many times in several courts that handled the case.

The unnamed defendant confessed to killing his wife by stabbing her in the chest and neck following a heated argument caused by his accusations that she was impregnated by another man.

Angered by such accusations, the woman asked for a divorce and rejected her husband’s demand to have an abortion.

The defendant told court that he was infuriated by her demands and decided to kill her. He said that after her death, he took her in her car to Bani Yas town just outside the capital, left the vehicle there and took a cab to the airport.

Newspapers said the defendant managed to flee the UAE but was caught in Bahrain after the victim’s brother reported him to authorities.

A Court of First Instance and an Appeals court sentenced the man to death but a Court of Cassation ordered a retrial after deciding that he was “strongly provoked” by his wife.

Another court then sentenced him to five years in prison and ordered him to pay Dh100,000 diya (blood money) to her children, prompting her relatives to appeal.

An appeals court increased the jail term to 10 years.

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