A young expat confessed to stabbing his lover to death after a plan to drug and rob her went wrong, a court has heard.
The Syrian, who is in his 20s, had met 50-year-old Brit Maria McClymont a few months before in a bar.
The pair struck up a relationship after he claims one of his friends suggested he exploit the mother-of-three’s feelings for money, Dubai Court of First Instance was told yesterday.
The defendant said in his statement: “I met her at a nightclub a couple of months before the incident. We became friends and I used to visit her at her apartment. My friend suggested I deceive her and use her for money.”
Friends of the victim told police the pair were in a romantic relationship and that McClymont, who had moved to the UAE from Saudi Arabia in 2009 and was human resources manager at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Bur Dubai, had been trying to find the defendant a job.
‘I regret it and didn’t intend to kill her’
He added: “My friend urged me to put a sleeping drug in her drink and then rob her. I agreed because I was short of cash, so I went to her apartment and I asked her for my passport because I kept it with her.
“She refused to give it to me and said that she loved me and wanted to marry me.
We fought and I knocked her to the ground. I was afraid that police would be called so I grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her in the heart.”
The defendant told the police he took McClymont’s jewellery and gave it to his friend who sold it.
The defendant gave his statement to police in Syria, where he fled on the day of McClymont’s murder. He is currently awaiting extradition and is being tried in absentia.
“I regret what I did and I did not intend to kill her,” he said. “What happened is a result of my anger and recklessness,” he said.
His friend is also on trial, charged with inciting murder, along with two other men, who are accused of possessing stolen goods.
All three deny the charges.
McClymont’s body was found by police in May last year at her apartment in Bur Dubai.
Her family in Scotland raised the alarm by calling the hotel where she worked after not hearing from her for several days.
