Man accused of strangling prostitute to death and stealing cash he paid her for sex

A man strangled a prostitute to death before stealing her mobile phone and taking back Dh150 he had paid her for sex, a court heard.

Police were alerted to the incident after a security guard at the deceased's apartment block in Al Baraha, Dubai, traced an "intolerable' smell to her flat.

Officers obtained a warrant and knocked down the door to her flat - finding the dead woman's body on the floor under the sink, Dubai Criminal Court was told.

"There were no signs of violence in the place to indicate a robbery but the victim's phone was missing so we started looking for it until we found that it was sold to a shop in the area," said an Emirati police officer, 28.

The defendant, a 33-year-old blacksmith from Pakistan, was tracked down in Al Ain, where he was arrested at his residence.

He denied charges of premeditated murder and theft, admitting he had consensual sex with the victim but insisting he did not mean to kill her.

Records show that Dubai police's operations room received a report of bad odours coming from the flat in  on February 24 of this year.

"The apartment was on the second floor, a tenant next door called me and complained about the bad smell. I cleaned the entire corridor but the smell was still there, so I traced the smell to the victim's flat," said the Indian security guard, who called his management to send a team of cleaners.

"They came and said that with a smell that bad there must be something wrong," said the guard who then called police.

Records state that the defendant admitted meeting the woman on February 23 and after having sex in return for Dh150, he said the woman stole another Dh150 from him.

He said that they argued then engaged in a fight. The woman grabbed him from his shirt and he wrapped a cloth around her neck.

Prosecutors said that he choked her with one hand and pulled on the cloth with the other until the woman dropped dead.

He stole her mobile phone and the cash he paid her for sex then left and locked the door from outside, the court was told.

The next hearing is scheduled for June 27.