Dubai: A criminal psychoanalyst told a court on Monday that a manager was aware and responsible of his actions when he choked his girlfriend to death over financial disputes.

The 31-year-old Lebanese manager had pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of premeditatedly killing his Vietnamese girlfriend when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

The suspect was reportedly said to have visited his girlfriend’s apartment to discuss the issue of Dh70,000 that he had lent her before they indulged in a heated argument and he ended up choking her to death with his elbow in April.

“The suspect was fully aware of his actions and behaviour at the time when I examined him following the murder. He was mentally fit and sound … I examined him twice,” a lieutenant in Dubai Police’s criminal psychoanalysis department testified before presiding judge Urfan Omar on Monday.

When asked about the period between the two examinations, the witness replied: “Two days.”

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese victim’s family hired a lawyer, who lodged a civil lawsuit in court on Monday and are seeking a compensation against their emotional and financial loss.

According to the accusation sheet, the Lebanese suspect went to the victim’s fifth-floor flat to discuss her debts and when she neglected him and entered the washroom, he followed her and choked her to death.

Prosecutors also accused the suspect of stealing the victim’s Dh6,500, laptop bag, purse, wristwatch, six gold rings, nine earrings, nine pendants and 10 bracelets.

Records said the victim’s family in Vietnam lost contact with their daughter for several days before they called up her countrywoman friend.

The Vietnamese friend told prosecutors that she called up common friends who advised her to go to her flat and check.

“Her family called me and told me that they had not been able to reach her. They sent me her address and before I visited her flat, I called her repeatedly but she didn’t answer. When I reached her building and knocked at the door, she did not respond … when I checked the parking lot, I found that her car was there. When I asked the watchman about her, he told me that he had last seen her with a European-looking man entering the building. I called up her co-worker and he told me that he had not seen her as he was in Saudi Arabia. Sometime later, he called me back and asked me to go to her flat … when I reached the flat, I saw the police already there and came to know that she had been murdered,” the friend told prosecutors.

The Lebanese co-worker of the victim told prosecutors that he asked a French manager at his company to follow up on the issue before he was informed that she was found dead.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that the suspect was the last person who was seen entering her flat through the buildings CCTV cameras.

“We apprehended the suspect at his workplace. During questioning, he admitted that she had been his girlfriend for six months. He said that he lent her Dh50,000 to buy a flat in her country and then later she asked him for more money to open a spa. He said that he lent her another Dh20,000 after she had promised to enrol him as a partner … but when he discovered that she had not listed him as a partner, he got angry. During questioning, the suspect further said that when her attitude changed towards him and she started neglecting him and treating him in an unfriendly manner, he was disturbed and annoyed … he said that in the last few weeks before the incident they constantly argued and fought. On the day of the incident he claimed that he had an intense argument with her when he sensed that she was not planning to repay her debts … he followed her into her washroom and choked her with her elbow. He said that he panicked and freaked out when he realised that he had killed her. He said he put her body in a bag and left … he stayed away until the police apprehended him,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.

The trial continues.