Debt to death: Man smashes friend's head

A Bangladeshi watchman in Dubai waited for his friend to fall asleep, before he crushed his skull with a large brick, following a heated argument over a debt.

He then fled to Abu Dhabi, but was caught later.

The unnamed killer had been involved in arguments with his 40-year-old Bangladeshi friend over the previous days, before the issue culminated into a fight on the night of the murder at a building under construction in Muraqabat.

Arabic daily Emarat Al Youm, quoting a senior police officer, said the watchman decided to commit the murder after his friend failed to pay back Dh11,000 he had lent him for his residence visa.

“After committing his crime, the killer fled to Abu Dhabi, where he stayed with a friend,” the paper said, quoting Brigadier Khalil Al Mansouri, director, General Detectives Department, Dubai.

“The murder was over a debt of Dh11,000. The killer left the body dumped at the construction site and fled. Our investigators found the victim on a mattress inside a room and it seems he was asleep when the killer crushed his skull as they found the victim’s blood and hair on the block used in the crime.”

Mansouri said workers at the site told the investigators that the killer and the victim were friends and that the watchman used to visit his friend at night.

They also said they had noticed the watchman disappeared after the crime.

The paper quoted another police officer as saying investigators suspected that one worker knew the watchman’s whereabouts after he gave them contradicting statements about the crime.

“We then decided to watch him until he got a taxi and headed for Abu Dhabi. Our men followed him and we contacted the Abu Dhabi Police to coordinate in the operation,” said Lt Colonel Ahmed Al Marri, director, Criminal Investigation.

“The detective section in Abu Dhabi Police sent its men after him and they followed him until he reached a workers’ accommodation at Mohammed bin Zayed city in Abu Dhabi. They raided the room and found the killer there. They also found that a friend had brought other Gulf currencies to help him flee the UAE through a neighbouring country.”

Marri said the defendant confessed to his crime and told investigators that he had an argument that night with the victim, who attacked and beat him.

“He told us that after this incident, he decided to kill his friend and that he waited for him until he went to bed and fell asleep. He then brought a large brick and smashed his friend’s head.”