Dubai Police have described how forensic engineering helped solve murder cases in which the killers tried to make deaths look like suicide or accidents. The cases were shared by Lieutenant Colonel Dr Engineer Mohammad Ali Al Qasim, head of the Forensic Engineering Section, on the Dubai Police Podcast.

In one case, a death in a villa first appeared to be a suicide. Experts tested the fixtures at the scene with known weights and found they could not have held up under the conditions in which the body was discovered. The findings showed the scene had been staged, and the perpetrator was identified and arrested.

In a second case, a woman and her lover tried to pass off the killing of her husband as an accident by burning his body and vehicle near an industrial area. Petroleum traces beneath the vehicle, together with DNA, chemical and trace analysis, showed the fire was deliberate, and those responsible were convicted.

In a third case, experts combined 3D scanning, genomics, DNA testing and digital evidence to reconstruct the face of an unidentified victim found in the desert, which helped officers identify the victim and arrest the killer.

Al Qasim said the section follows 23 approved examination protocols and that deliberate fires remain relatively uncommon in the UAE compared with accidental ones. Its work also helps prevent accidents: findings on defective airbags once led to a vehicle recall.

(Source: Khaleej Times)