25 July 2007

Woman told to pay diya despite kin waiving rights

A woman convicted of causing the death of her brother's wife and daughter must pay Dh150,000 in compensation despite the brother waiving his share, an appeal court has ruled.
M.K.M, 26, an Emirati was driving a vehicle with her sister-in-law S.M.M, her niece F.S.A and her own son M.S.M on board.
The driver then lost control of the car which rolled over and crashed against mountain rocks.
M.K.M and her son escaped with minor injuries but the other two passengers S.M.M and F.S.A died in the accident after sustaining severe head injuries, including crushed sculls.
The Fujairah Court of First Instance convicted the driver, M.K.M, of causing the death of the two passengers and causing physical harm to her son.
Brother's help
She was also found guilty of reckless driving, negligence and breaking traffic rules. The court fined her Dh800.
The court took into consideration the wish of S.A.M, the brother of the convicted driver, not to claim any compensation from his sister. However, the public prosecution later appealed the decision citing that other family members of the deceased must be paid their share.
According to Islamic rulings the husband is only entitled to a quarter of the compensation or diya, the appeal claimed, with other family members entitled to the rest. The Appeal Court upheld the appeal and awarded Dh150,000 to the rest of S.M.M family but no diya was due to F.S.A family as S.A.M is the sole beneficiary to his daughter's diya.
Verdict in murder case on August 6
Fujairah: The verdict in the case of a man accused of killing his divorced wife in Dibba will be announced on August 6, Gulf News has learnt.
The murder took place in September of last year, when an Emirati man allegedly shot his ex-wife, B.B.A, an Indian national in her thirties, because he felt her behaviour was inappropriate.
Eyewitnesses allegedly saw the man knock on the door of his ex-wife with a gun in his hand and after she came to the door he fired at her from point-blank range killing her immediately. The man later admitted the murder to the public prosecution citing he felt her conduct was suspicious. Source

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