Lorna Lim Varona will soon finally be laid to rest in her home country after she was brutally murdered nearly a month ago.
“We hope to take her body home by Wednesday or Thursday next week,” said Pablo Varona, 65, who went to Sharjah Public Prosecution to process the paperwork required to repatriate his wife’s remains.
“The wake may take four to five days before she will be laid to rest.”
The Filipino businesswoman, 51, was found murdered on August 31, nearly a week after she was reported missing from the family home in Mirdif, in Dubai.
She had been stabbed at least six times, and her body stuffed into a bag in the boot of her car, a green Jaguar S-Type, in Sharjah’s Industrial Area 2.
Mr Varona received a police report and a four-page forensics report that had to be translated from Arabic to English. The department of preventive medicine in Sharjah issued a death certificate.
“I’m quite relieved that we got all the papers now,” he said. “My family and I will be accompanying her body to Manila.”
A Filipino in his 50s, described as a close friend of the family, was arrested in Dubai the day after Mrs Varona’s body was found and police said he confessed to the killing.
The family was able to see the woman’s body for the first time on September 15, nearly two weeks after learning about the murder from Sharjah police.
They are required to present the autopsy report, death certificate and passport to the Philippines consulate in Dubai, which will then issue a no-objection certificate for the embalming of her remains, said Mohammed Pukunum, a consulate staff member.
Mr Varona said they could not retrieve his wife’s passport so they would need to apply for a travel document at the consulate.
The repatriation process also involves an airline cargo booking, transferring the body from the morgue to an embalming facility at Sonapur, and taking it to the airport for the trip to the Philippines.
Mr Varona’s daughters Maria Lourdes, 29, and Maria Liza, 24, are in Dubai to support their father and help to run their mother’s four business interests.
Sons Joseph Luke, 27, and Joseph Louis, 26, are in Manila to finalise funeral arrangements.
“The case will continue and we know it will take time,” Mr Varona said. “But we believe in the justice system of the UAE. We’ll get justice for Lorna.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Company%20profile
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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7pm: Flood Zone
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9.30pm: Forever Young
Key facilities
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
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Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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