Sharjah: The Sharia Court of First Instance in Sharjah yesterday sentenced to death an American for murdering a German businessman last year, Gulf News has learnt.
The court also sentenced his accomplice, an Ethiopian woman, who took part in the high-profile murder, to three years in prison to be followed by deportation.
Court sources told Gulf News that Shahid King Poliss, in his mid-30s, was sentenced to death after being convicted of premeditated murder while his Ethiopian partner Fawzia Nigash Yousuf, was convicted of aiding and abetting the crime, theft and having an illicit affair.
They were accused of brutally murdering Martin Herbert Steiner, a 48-year-old German businessman in June last year. He had been reported missing and his decomposed body was found 15 days later by police, stuffed in a suitcase and dumped off the Dubai-Hatta road.
Steiner's relatives called for the death sentence against the accused American. Poliss, a Muslim American, entered the country on a visit visa using a forged British passport, according to sources.
He is married to two women - the first an American of Jordanian origin and mother of his five children. She lives in the US. The other wife is British of Somali origin who has since come to the UAE to support her husband during his trial.
Poliss was said to have a sex website where women were advertised.
He shaved his beard and posed as a gay person on the website. Fawzia had contacted Poliss after reading a newspaper advertisement for a housemaid, it was reported.
Toxins and drugs
She them moved in with him. Polis then posted Fawzia's picture on his website describing her as a woman from the Middle East offering sex for money.
Poliss convinced Fawzia to offer sexual services to customers, and it was alleged the money received was to be channelled to the Al Qaida terror network.
Police reportedly found CDs in Poliss' home on how to make poisonous chemical substances and drugs.
They also found pictures of girls aged less than eight sitting on Poliss' bed. Umm Mohammad Esmail, Poliss' wife who lives in the US, told Gulf News by phone that Fawzia was their maid and had her own room in the house.
"Shahid was not even working in the UAE so how could he send money to Al Qaida or to anybody? After our business failed, I was the one working and providing for the home. We were in debt to meet our expenses," she added.
She said the pictures of the girls on his cell phone are his daughters. "Shahid never had a cell phone with a camera. This phone is the maid's phone who used to take pictures of the kids," she said.
They were accused of brutally murdering Martin Herbert Steiner, a 48-year-old German businessman in June last year. He had been reported missing and his decomposed body was found 15 days later by police, stuffed in a suitcase.
