DUBAI 26 March 2018: Brit Francis Matthew, former Editor of Gulf News, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by deportation by a court in Dubai.
He was charged with killing his wife of 30-years – Jane, 62 – with a hammer on July 3/4th last year.
Francis, 61, had earlier been charged with premeditated murder which carries the death penalty – but it was changed to beating that resulted in the death of his wife after she reportedly called him a loser.
Francis’ lawyer had argued for the change in charges on a plea of temporary insanity.
Jane Matthew’s brother said the family was disappointed with the sentence.
“We feel that justice has not yet been done as we realize that the actual sentence served may be less than the 10-year sentence. We hope that this sentence is changed on appeal,” Peter Manning was quoted by The National.
When police had arrived at Francis’ villa in Jumeirah in July last year, he told them that burglars had broken in and killed his wife.
Later, he said he had hit her on the head as she lay in bed with a hammer as he was outraged by her calling him a loser. He later hid the hammer.