Last chance for policeman given life for shooting officer

DUBAI // A policeman whose life term for shooting dead a fellow officer was upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeal will appear at the Court of Cassation on July 3 for a last chance before the sentence becomes final.

The Yemeni patrol sergeant, 26, claimed he shot the victim, 53, because he had been sexually assaulted by him.

On November 8, 2015 the prisoner started his shift and went to pick up his gun, bullets and handcuffs from his colleague, who worked as an armoury officer at Al Raffa Police Station.

He then fired his gun three times at the victim’s head, killing him, after which he surrendered to the station’s commanding officer.

A 51-year-old officer testified that he saw the killer standing behind the victim and saying: “When you and that other man came to my residence, what did you do to me?

“I didn’t think it was serious, I thought they were joking,” the witness said.

The killer wanted legal action taken against him, said the commander, who added that he handed him his weapon.

“I asked him why had he shot his colleague, he replied that the victim and another man had sexually assaulted him ,” said the commander. He told the commander that the armoury officer had gagged him with a cloth with a chemical on it, which made him lose consciousness and when he woke up, he believed he had been sexually assaulted.

A medical examination concluded that the defendant was sane and responsible for his actions, but found that he suffered from paranoia after being raped in 2008.

If the sentence is upheld, it will become final and the officer will have to serve 25 years in prison then be deported.