Nephew who burnt aunt and uncle to death spared execution

ABU DHABI // A man who burnt his aunt and uncle to death has been spared execution and instead jailed for three years after the heirs agreed to accept blood money.

The killer had previously received the death penalty at the Criminal, Appeals and Cassation courts. But before he was executed the heirs of the dead couple said they would accept Dh400,000 in blood money.

The case began four years ago after the aunt and uncle returned from holiday in their home country and found their company had lost a lot of money while they were away.

They blamed the nephew for the losses, because he had been left in charge. This provoked him to murder them.

He poured petrol into their bedroom while the aunt was taking a shower and the uncle was sleeping. Then he tricked his aunt into his bedroom.

Meanwhile, he went to her bedroom and locked her husband inside and set it alight. He then went back to his room and did the same while his aunt was inside.

As they were burning to death he stole his aunt’s jewellery and a suitcase hidden in the house that contained cash and important documents.

Police found him in possession of the suitcase and he was charged with premeditated murder. All three courts sentenced him to death.

Reconciliation efforts continued between the two families and eventually a lawyer for the victim’s son stated that his client was willing to renounce the death penalty in return for the full amount of blood money, Dh200,000 for each victim.

The Cassation Court replaced the death sentence with three years in jail and the blood money, followed by deportation.

hdajani@thenational.ae

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Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.