7 Days

Dubai, May 8: Colleagues of a woman police say was stabbed to death by her abusive husband have said they repeatedly begged her to leave him and described the man as a “monster”. Despite being threatened and beaten, Filipina Jocelyn Pafayon refused to leave her partner and told colleagues that she loved him and could not live without him.

She was found stabbed to death at the villa she rented in the Al Twar area of Dubai at the end of last week. Her husband is being held by Dubai Police on suspicion of murder. At the beauty salon where Jocelyn worked in Mirdif, her colleagues yesterday paid tribute to her and set up a small shrine in memory of their friend.

“We asked her a number of times to stay away from him as he is dangerous. But she refused to listen to us. She said that she cannot live without him and was continuing to stay with him until this horrible incident,” said Donabelle Palomeras, one of her colleagues and her former housemate. “He always used to threaten her with a knife. I had to rescue her a couple of times when he was about to beat her in the villa. He had a knife which he used to keep underneath the pillow to scare her,” she said, adding that Jocelyn often used to come to the salon with bruise marks on her neck and shoulders.

“It was sad to see her in that state. She used to also cry in the salon telling us about her problems. We always advised her to be brave and leave her problems aside,” she said. Another close friend added: “Two weeks before her death, she asked all her colleagues to take care of her two children in the Philippines and carry her body to her homeland if she died. We never knew that she was going to leave this world so soon”.

The owner of the salon, Najad Al Sayyedi, told 7DAYS: “Jossy was an innocent and lovable human being. She was bubbly and cheerful. Always busy talking to the customers and taking care of their problems. It is so sad that she is no more. The man who did this is no human being. He is a monster. He deserves severe punishment for the crime,” she said.

“I was left in so much pain when I heard she was killed. We came to know that he used to often beat her up and harass her over petty issues. Now he cannot do anything to hurt her anymore.”