Dubai: A servant, who choked his girlfriend to death and left her half-naked body between trees after he had sex with her in a villa, was handed a life imprisonment.

In May, a Pakistani guard was trimming trees outside a villa at Emirates Hills when he found the body of the woman.

Police were informed about the woman’s body and a Filipino clerk, who lived in a the villa across the street, told interrogators at the crime scene that he had seen the woman entering that villa at 1.30pm.

Further on-site investigations revealed that the Nepalese woman had been having an affair with her 31-year-old countryman servant, who worked in the villa beside which her body had been found.

Upon questioning, the defendant admitted that he had sex with the victim before they quarrelled and he choked her when she yelled at him.

On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 31-year-old accused of intentionally killing his girlfriend and having sex with her.

Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

Records said the defendant choked the victim and pushed her in the washroom where she hit her head on a sink and fell unconscious. Then he carried her to the bed and went back to his work and later realised that she had died.

“I only had sex with her … I did not kill her,” the accused told the court.

When asked about who had killed the victim, the Nepalese defendant contended that after they had sex, she left the room and fell down on her own.

“I didn’t touch her,” he argued in court.

The Pakistani guard said when he saw the body in an underwear, he thought it may be a plastic doll.

“When I touched the cheek, I realised that it was a woman’s body. Policemen who arrived at the crime scene also first thought it was a doll,” the guard said.

The Filipino clerk testified that he had seen the woman in a miniskirt when she walked in to the villa.

A police sergeant said the accused was apprehended from Al Barsha area.

“During questioning, the defendant admitted that the victim was his girlfriend and they had been having an affair. On that day, the defendant said he smuggled her into his bedroom without being noticed by his sponsor. After sex, that they had a heated argument because she wanted to stay with him for more time. He said they quarrelled and when she started shouting, he choked her for a few minutes to hush her … he choked her again when she shouted. Then he pushed her to the washroom … where she tripped and hit her head on the sink and fell unconscious. After that he put her on the bed, and went out to finish his work. Later when he realised that she had died, he threw her body over the villa wall,” the sergeant testified.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.