Labourer dies during bedroom fight

An inebriated man engaged in a drunken brawl with a compatriot labourer and punched him to death, a court heard on Monday.

The 35-year-old unemployed Asian defendant assaulted the victim in a fatal manner inside a contracting company’s workers’ accommodation in Al Muhaisna at around 10pm on Jan.18, prosecutors told the Dubai Criminal Court.

However, they charged the defendant with manslaughter and clarified that he had no intention to murder. They also accused him of abusing alcohol. He denied the manslaughter charge and admited alcohol abuse. The ruling will be on Mar.28.

On the record, the victim’s Indian roommate said he returned home and found the defendant and the victim disputing inside the room. They started pushing each other ater which they exchanged blows. “I feared the situation,” he said.

“I ran out to the accommodation’s foreman. Ater alerting him I returned to the room and found the victim lying on the floor. The defendant sat beside him amidst a crowd of labourers. Paramedics arrived and rushed him to hospital.

The Pakistani foreman said, “The roommate contacted telling me that a worker was in critical condition and had to be rushed to hospital. I arrived and found him lying face up and conscious as paramedics offered him first aid.

“The defendant remained close. Police arrived and the roommate told them it was the defendant who struck the victim with a hand blow and he collapsed. Police detained the defendant,” and took him to Al Qusais Police Station.

A Comorian policeman said he and a colleague were on patrol when the police operations room alerted them about a grave assault incident in the accommodation. “We met the foreman who had reported the incident. He directed us to the room where the defendant assaulted the victim. We found he had already been rushed to hospital.”