DUBAI // A man who kicked and punched a young woman to death in a brutal 3am assault in a hotel car park was jailed yesterday for a total of four years.
Esther Mwikamba, 26, a shop worker from Kenya, never regained consciousness after the attack. She was rushed to Rashid Hospital where she remained in a coma for 31 days until her death.
A?M, an unemployed Emirati, assaulted her in the car park behind the Crowne Plaza hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road on February 18.
Earlier he had sexually assaulted Esther's friend A?W, 28, also from Kenya, in the car park. "I asked him why he did it and he said because we are both black and it was normal with the black people," she told prosecutors.
“His friend apologised on his behalf and said he was behaving strangely as he was under the influence of alcohol.”
Later, as A?W was talking on her mobile phone and walking towards her car, she looked back and saw Esther on the ground, where A?M was kicking her.
He then fled the scene, along with a number of other men, as onlookers gathered to assist the victim.
A security guard gave police the plate number of the car in which A?M drove off, and he has been in custody in Dubai Central Jail since that night.
When he appeared in court last May, A?M admitted punching Esther to the ground and repeatedly kicking her, but said he had not intended to kill her. “I did beat her but I did not mean to slaughter her,” he told the presiding judge.
He was sentenced at the Criminal Court yesterday to three years for assault leading to death and a further year for sexual harassment. The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
Esther’s family expressed shock at the sentence. “It’s not fair. Justice has not been given to Esther,” her younger sister Lucy Wanjiru, who lives in Kenya, said when The National told her of the verdict.
“This is a very short period. He deserves more punishment for what he did. He took my sister’s life.”
The family is trying to get in touch with their lawyer in Dubai for more details.
“My mother has yet to recover from the incident. She is still in a state of shock. She cries every day looking at the picture of Esther,” Lucy said.
“Esther was the only breadwinner in our family. Our financial position is not good after she passed away. We are struggling to cope with her loss. And no one from his family ever contacted us to even say sorry about the incident.”
Esther’s cousin, Benny Kamami, who lives in Nairobi, said: “It’s not fair. The person who did this act should be sentenced to life. We did not expect this.”
The issue of compensation can be raised only when the family’s civil lawsuit against A?M reaches court. Their lawyer in Dubai could not be reached yesterday for information about that case.
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Manchester City 2
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Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
Brief scoreline:
Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
England (311-8): Stokes 89, Morgan 57, Roy 54, Root 51; Ngidi 3-66
South Africa (207): De Kock 68, Van der Dussen 50; Archer 3-27, Stokes 2-12
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
