DUBAI // An unemployed man yesterday admitted that he punched a woman to the ground then repeatedly kicked her, but denied that he meant to kill her.
Esther Wanjiru Mwikamba, 26, of Kenya, was attacked in the early hours of February 18 this year in the car park behind the Crowne Plaza hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road.
Mwikamba was with two friends when A?M, 23, an Emirati, harassed one of them by touching her inappropriately. When Mwikamba tried to stop him, he attacked her, prosecutors say.
She was taken to Rashid Hospital, where she remained in a coma for 31 days until her death.
The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday charged A?M with assault leading to death, punishable by a prison term of between three and 10 years.
He was also charged with sexual harassment and for molesting Mwikamba’s friend, court records show.
“I did beat her but I did not mean to slaughter her,” he told the judge in court yesterday.
He also denied sexually harassing a woman.
Prosecutors said A?M had molested the Kenyan woman A?W, 28, at the car park of the hotel about 3am.
“I asked him why he did it and he said that because we are both black and it is normal between the black people,” A?W reportedly told prosecutors.
“At that moment his friend apologised on his behalf and said that he was behaving strangely as he was under the influence of alcohol.”
A short time later, as A?W was talking on her mobile phone and walking towards her car, she looked back and saw Mwikamba on the ground where A?M was kicking her, court records showed.
A?M reportedly escaped in a 4WD, along with a number of other men from the scene, as more people gathered.
The next hearing is scheduled for June 28.
wissa@thenational.ae