Death in Dubai: 2. Not the first to die

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0:43Runako Celina:Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now. and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen at schwab.com slash Washington Wise. That's schwab.com slash Washington Wise. Episodes of World of Secrets are released weekly wherever you get your BBC podcasts. But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the full season right now first on BBC Sounds. And just to give you a heads up, this episode has some strong language.

1:35It's the weekend before Monica leaves for Dubai and her family are throwing her a farewell party on their farm in Uganda. They've slaughtered a goat and drinks are being prepared. Monica's helping get food ready and playing with the kids. She's excited. But someone important isn't here yet. a relative who's been like a father figure since her dad passed away. So Monica goes looking for him. She finds Michael weeding in the banana plantation nearby and she tells him her big news. She was like, at last I have got a job in Dubai. I said, oh wow, that's good. You're going with the company? No, she tells him.

2:20A close friend has got me a job working in a supermarket. So then I was like, how long have you been knowing this guy? She said, yes, I've been friends for long since I've been in Kampala. And he has also friends in Dubai, and he has been picking girls there. He puts down his tools. I was like, Monika, if you're going to Dubai, make sure the luggage you're going to go with, you check them thoroughly, you pack them yourself. don't allow those guys to give you anything. Because I have been following the social media stories for those girls who go to Dubai carrying drugs and they end in prison.

3:08With this warning ringing in her ears, Monica sits down under the shade of a coffee tree. Her whole mood has changed. I saw her weeping, I saw her crying. She was, Michael, I'm moving tomorrow. What you have told me? I'm scared. At this point, Michael tries to reassure her. Be careful, he says, but take this opportunity. I told her, if you have got a chance to go to Dubai, you go and work. but make sure you are going to do a supermarket job. We will pray for you, he tells her. I wish you the best. She was like, OK, OK, now I'm fine, I'm fine. She gathered her serif, she wiped the tears on her face.

4:03She went back to her mother's home. Back to her leaving party. Two days later, she's off to Dubai Michael will never see Monica again

4:20This is World of Secrets, Season 9 Death in Dubai

4:29From the BBC World Service I'm Renako Selina

4:38Episode 2, Not the First to Die.

4:50It's a hot, humid day in Isindura, Monica's hometown, and I'm grateful when Michael suggests we meet in a cool, high-ceiling church. He wanted to meet here because this is a special place. It's where Monica was baptised. Michael isn't his real name. I'm hiding my identity for this interview because what I'm telling you here, what I'm revealing to you now, they will hunt me down. He fears they will hunt him down, but he's decided he has to speak out about what happened to Monica. I have agreed through this interview because you BBC people, you're over the world. You're not police officers, it's not a court, but if this thing is aired out, we pray you, Hede Pastor, for the justice.

5:49Justice for Monica.

6:02It's early 2022, two months after Monica left for Dubai, and Michael's now heading there too.

6:20There's no other choice. An agent has promised him a job as a security guard there. He's sold all of his cows to raise the money for the visa and ticket. But when Michael arrives, there's no job. The agent never had a job. He had lied to me. He's now completely dependent on this agent. He's living in a bed space this guy's found for him in Abu Dhabi. It's a tiny room stacked high with bunk beds, shared with other migrants. Michael can't afford a phone. He has to borrow his agents to call Monica. But getting hold of her is difficult. She could send a message like now, you reply the message, within two hours, the phone is off.

7:06When Michael and Monica finally manage to talk, and she realises the situation he's in, she immediately offers to help. Of course she does, he says. That was typical Monica. She said, come tomorrow get a bus and call on this number. I will give you some money for upkeep. And also you see me. I was like, wow. So Michael borrows some money from his agent and makes the four-hour journey to Dubai.

7:40It's early morning when Michael arrives in Monica's neighbourhood, Al Basha, a residential suburb popular with expats not far from the Palm and Dubai Marina. He tries to get hold of her.

8:00With no way to reach her and nowhere to stay, reluctantly he takes the bus back to Abu Dhabi.

8:11Nearly a week, nothing, no word He's getting more and more worried Then, finally, Monica emerges She called me on video, on Instagram video She was like, Michael, I'm sorry, last time you came But my phone was off, even my phone was stolen And I got a new phone Her story keeps changing It's so strange, and she won't explain what's going on. Ask her, are you fine? Because maybe as a relative, she never wanted to open the other side of her life to me. That's why sometimes she could cry, then she starts smiling again. They have a video call every week or so. Monica tries to put on a brave face, but eventually, she opens up to him.

9:03She's in debt, she tells him, to the people who brought her to Dubai. They're telling her, she says, that she owes them over 27 ,000 US dollars, 100 ,000 UAE dirhams. I was like, 100 ,000 dirhams? She was like, yes, that's what those people are telling me. If not, I have to work for them until I pay them their money. Monica says she will explain everything later. asking him to just pray for her. In some of the voice messages she sends him, she's crying. And when Michael looks at her Instagram account, he's shocked by what he sees.

9:47In a bar, smoking shisha. Openly naked. Dancing naked. Posting a video on the Instagram for everyone to see without a nacre. We just see her private parts. For someone working in the supermarket can do that? No. Whatever was posted on her Instagram was not posted by her. No. He thinks he knows what's going on. And that's when I knew that's why she could not reply my messages. I knew now she was in a sexual state of trade. The struggle to reach Monica, the tearful voice messages, the mentions of debt. To Michael, it's all beginning to make sense. I knew what she was facing. I cried. It was a very bad experience in my life to hear that.

10:52It took me some time, even days, thinking about that. If I had money, if I had already got a job, if I had already got an ID, I could have gone to police to report what my relatives were going through, but I had no way. So the only thing I did, I had to put her in prayers. He prays and prays, and sometimes they talk. Given his own situation as an undocumented African in the UAE, there's not much he can do. But that doesn't stop him from trying, worrying, from thinking of any way that he can help her. Then, when they next manage to talk, she tells him things are looking up for her. She's made friends with a neighbour, a Ghanaian guy, who lets her use his phone to call Michael.

11:46And she sounds happy. She said, Michael, I have got a white boyfriend. He's going to bail me out. He's going to clear these people's money and I'll be free. He remembers Monica telling him the guy had been a client. He's a mzungu, a white guy, English. She told him her situation and he's taken pity on her. He's going to rent her an apartment, sort out her visa and most importantly, he's going to pay off the debt she owes to the men who brought her to Dubai. But then she calls a few days later. crying. The guy has stopped answering her calls. Michael's worried, but he tries to reassure her by saying, that's a lot of money.

12:34Maybe it's just taking him a while to sort it out. It's nearly midnight on April the 30th, 2022, when she calls again. This time, her excitement's on a whole other level. She tells him her guy has sorted everything. Now, she's partying with her girlfriends, celebrating the good news.

13:08Monica's going to be free, he remembers thinking, feeling a huge sense of relief. Everything's going to be all right.

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13:55Runako Celina:And on Good Bad Billionaire, we're exploring the life and fortune of music megastar Sir Paul McCartney. Macca. As one of the primary songwriters in The Beatles. And with an extensive solo career. His work generates vast and continuous royalty streams. But were song royalties alone enough to break the billion? And earn him the title of the first British billionaire rock star? Find out in Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, search for Good Bad Billionaire wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

14:34It's Sunday and Michael heads to church. It's the one place in Abu Dhabi he gets a warm welcome.

14:44He's there all morning, praying, singing hymns, and they give him some food. He hasn't eaten in a while. The night before, he had that call from Monica, where he remembers her saying she would soon be free. He should be elated, but he has this strange feeling. We prayed, we went through the service at the church. I was there physically, but I don't know why I was not there spiritually. After the service, he heads back to his bed space. When I reached in the room, my boss called me, Michael, come, come, come. As he still doesn't have a phone, Rita, Monica's sister, has sent an urgent message from Michael to his agent.

15:36The message was from my sister in Uganda, asking Michael, Can you confirm with us that Karunji Monika has died? It can't be true, he thinks. He only spoke to her last night. But his agent's phone is blowing up with notifications and alerts. He scrambles between them. Opening all the WhatsApp, the TikTok thing to us all over Monika. You can hear the screams of everyone who witnessed it.

16:06Runako Celina:A Vigandad woman died instantly after she jumped off. People online are saying she fell from an apartment tower. Michael borrows money and makes the four-hour journey to Dubai. When he arrives at the scene, there's police all over. They've cordoned off the area. A crowd is gathered. Michael pushes through. Monica's remains are still on the ground. Monica's body parts were still there. If God wishes, he would also die. If good you can, take me to. Michael is in shock. But as Monica's only relative in the UAE, he can't stop to grieve. He has to find out what's happened. Back home, Monica's family is distraught.

16:54They need answers too.

17:01As soon as morning breaks, he heads to Al-Basha police station. Michael's visa has run out, so he's in the UAE illegally. Like many undocumented people, he usually keeps as far away from the police as he can. But he's got to do this. At first they asked for the passport and visa. I showed them my passport. Said you have expired visa. I said I don't care. Monica has died. Put me in. I just want to know why she has died. He says the police tell him they've arrested two suspects. They're in the cells now. Then the police officer told me, the moment they reached the apartment, they found her passport and her belongings.

17:50The forensic people, they reached on the veranda, they found only Monica's fingerprints. There was drugs on the table, there was alcohol. He said when they entered in the room, and found those two evidences. They could not continue with investigations.

18:16To Michael, this is not good enough. He keeps pushing. Then I asked him, as a police officer, have you looked in the camera of the building? You have not investigated the cause of her death. The police officer was like, do you know that this is UAE? This is not Uganda. In the UAE, when they find out someone was using drugs and was on alcohol, they stopped their investigation and they concluded she committed suicide.

18:49Runako Celina:Did you think this investigation was enough? It was not enough at all. Michael manages to get a death certificate from the hospital. The family in Uganda sent him the money to pay for it. But it doesn't say the cause of death. and now he's told he has 21 days to raise the money to bring Monica home for burial. Her family is waiting for answers, but Michael has none and nowhere to turn.

19:24Then he gets a call. On the line is a stranger, but he recognises his accent. It sounds like he's from Ghana. to me what had happened. This Ghanaian guy had two brothers. These brothers live in the same block as Monica. She'd become friends with them. One of them was the man who'd been lending her his phone so that she could call Michael. And these brothers are the two suspects in custody. The man insists that they're innocent. He tells Michael they'd been at work all night and arrived home only after Monica had died. Michael doesn't know what to believe, but he rushes straight back to the Al-Basha police station.

20:11There, he says, the police confirm that the brothers arrived after Monica's fall, but they arrested them because they took photos at the crime scene.

20:31black Africans. These boys have no case. I said, officer, leave these guys to go. After a lot of negotiation, the police eventually let the brothers go, on the condition they'll report back for further questioning. They're all really grateful to Michael, and that's when one of them says he can help. He said, Michael, because of this, what you have done for my relatives, I'm taking you exactly to the boss. I know the boss of Monica. Let me take you there. Monica's boss. Is this the Ugandan man that her sister Rita says she spoke to? The man who told her, your sister isn't normal. So that guy said, why am I taking you?

21:20Those guys are ruthless. A den of lions. He was scared of his life. They are powerful men, he's warned, with connections right to the top. Those guys are connected to police. They are connected to Ugandan embassy. So expect, expect anything from them. And now Michael's on his way to confront them.

21:54The next morning, the Ghanaian man takes Michael to Al-Basha To a tall apartment building called Al-Fahad This is where Monica was living They enter through the car park and get into the lift Floor after floor, no one speaks This is Michael's account of what happens next After stepping out of the lift, we found there Ugandan's big-bodied guys at the door. They pat him down before letting him enter the apartment.