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Dubai: A clerk hid under a car showroom counter playing games on his mobile phone for 90 minutes, waiting patiently for a security guard to appear before he stabbed him to death, police revealed on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Pakistani suspect claimed he needed money to pay for his sister's wedding. That was why he killed the 32-year-old Nepalese security guard, in order to rob the showroom.
However, he could not get Dh458,000 out of the safe, so he set the showroom on fire, Dubai Attorney General Eisam Eisa Al Humaidan told a media conference yesterday.
Public Prosecution records said the suspect, A.K., had bought a knife with which he stabbed his Nepalese colleague, P.B., to death, then attempted to open the safe with a welding machine.
When he could not get the safe open, he deliberately set the showroom on fire to dispose of the body and get rid of any evidence.
Ahmad Murad Ahmad, Assistant Chief Prosecutor who conducted the investigations, said because the welding machine ran out of gas A.K. could not break open the safe.
Then he got a gallon of benzine with which he lit a fire on the showroom's first floor.
"The suspect stabbed the victim three times in his chest and eight times in the back ... he also battered his head with a hammer," said Ahmad. Al Humaidan said: "The clerk has been charged with premeditated murder, attempted theft and arson. He could face capital punishment."
"During our questioning, the defendant confessed that he had waited for the victim under the counter for an hour and a half. While he waited he played games on his cell phone.
"The victim was sleeping on the back seat of a car that was on display. When he woke up he walked around in the showroom. The suspect then went ahead and waited for him in his room. When the victim entered the room, the defendant stabbed him."
The Dubai Police operations room received a report of a fire in a car showroom on the day of the murder at 7:45am.
Investigation and forensic science teams from the police's criminal investigation department (CID) arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. The security guard's room was locked and the key was missing.
Ahmad gave the police verbal permission to break down the door, when they found the guard lying in a pool of blood on the floor.
The CID team found two safes in the accountant's office, located on the first floor of the showroom. They could see someone had tried to open the door using an oxy-fuel torch.
"The suspect's modus operandi confirmed that he must have been an insider because he seemed to have inside knowledge. Suspicion focused on A.K. who came to work the next day as if nothing had happened.
"He even helped workers clean the place. Blood stains found on his shoes were enough evidence that he was linked to the accident. When confronted with the evidence, he confessed and acted out the crime," said Ahmad.
The Attorney General said the Dubai Court of First Instance will prosecute the suspect next week.
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