Life term for 4 upheld in Al Warqa murder case

dubai — Four Emirati men, who assaulted a compatriot to death using knives, swords and sticks, had their life terms upheld by the Dubai Court of Cassation.

The court also upheld the threeyear jail sentence against a fifth Emirati accused in the case.

The five men aged between 21 and 36, including two brothers, also threw acid on the victim and his three friends, all Emiratis, during a confrontation during midnight on March 16 last year.

The Court of First Instance sentenced all the five defendants to life in jail in November last year but later the Court of Appeals upheld the primary court ruling and reduced the sentence of one of them to three years.

It is believed the main accused was after someone else and had all the sharp weapons in place for the planned attack. He was high on drugs then and mistook the victim for another man and attacked him following an altercation.

They all earlier denied in court the charges of premeditated murder and planning and executing a gangster-style attack with the use of sharp weapons and other harmful materials. The attack happened on the street outside the villa of the main accused in Al Warqa.

It is understood from the case documents that the victim’s friend was the one who brought him there that night.

An Emirati, who lives in the

The accused approached the victim’s car and he wanted to have a fight with him.” Emirati neighbour, witness

same neighbourhood as the victim, said: “The accused approached the victim’s car and he wanted to have a fight with him. We all stepped off the car. We managed to keep them away from each other. His friends also pulled him towards his house. However, the defendants came shortly later and the main one seemed as if he was intoxicated with liquor or drugs.

“He was hallucinating a lot. He then brandished a knife and threatened the victim to leave the place.” His brother suddenly broke an acid bottle on the witness’ head and acid was thrown all around. “I ran with my friends. I could not pull the victim away with us. But I turned and saw him being under heavy attack with swords and sticks.”

The victim’s friend said that even as he was carrying the badly injured victim to his car to take him to hospital, the main accused punched the victim in the head.

A police captain said the police patrol cars chased three of the accused all the way to the industrial area in Sharjah and caught them. Another defendant was apprehended in his home in Hor Al Anz, and one in a hospital in Al Ain following an attempted suicide.

mary@khaleejtimes.com