A dramatic case in Ras Al Khaimah has taken a surprising turn after a woman on death row was pardoned by her own children — the same children who had lost their father in a shocking crime.
The woman, a Gulf national identified as R.A., had been sentenced to death for her role in the murder of her husband (54), a lawyer suffering from diabetes. The crime was committed with the help of her lover and his driver.
According to records from Ras Al Khaimah’s correctional facility, the story began in 2015 when the woman, who was an administrative worker at a local school, began an affair with her lover, a Gulf national identified as H.M. Despite both being married, their relationship grew serious — serious enough that they started plotting to kill her husband and start a new life together.
The plan was cold and calculated. The woman began by giving her husband extra doses of his insulin injections, hoping it would slowly end his life without raising suspicion. When that didn’t work, she added an anesthetic to the injection, which caused him to lose consciousness. Thinking he was dead, she called her lover to help dispose of the body.
But when the lover arrived, he realised the man was still alive. He then strangled him to death and asked his driver, a Pakistani national, to help move the body — offering him Dh10,000 for his silence and assistance.
Together, the two men placed the victim’s body in a car and drove to a remote mountainous area. There, they tied his hands and threw the body into a valley. A shepherd later discovered the corpse and alerted the authorities.
Police launched a swift investigation that soon led to the arrest of the wife, her lover, and the driver. All three confessed during questioning. They were charged with murder and referred to the public prosecution.
The court handed death sentences to the lover and the driver. The woman also received a death sentence, but her fate changed when her own children — the legal blood relatives of the victim — chose to forgive her. Under UAE law, such forgiveness can spare a convict from execution.
As a result, the woman’s death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment after her appeal was accepted. She was released after serving one year in prison, following a pardon granted by the victim’s legal heirs — her sons.