Worker gets 10 years in jail for killing colleague

dubai — A 23-year-old Indian man, who stabbed to death a compatriot colleague at their labour accommodation, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Thursday.

He pleaded not guilty to a murder charge when he appeared at the Court of First Instance in December, 2017. He claimed he did not intend to kill his countryman but was rather acting in self-defence.

The public prosecution records show the worker killed his fellow labourer at their accommodation in Al Quoz industrial area after he stabbed him in the face, neck, chest and back. The court, presided over by judge Irfan Attiah, convicted him of a murder charge and ordered his deportation after completing his 10-year jail sentence. The police were called to the crime scene on September 21, 2017.

A Pakistani technician at the cleaning and maintenance services company, where the victim and the accused worked, said: “It was just past 8am when I spotted the accused running and being followed by the victim at our accommodation in the first floor. The victim’s clothes were covered in blood. He was holding a broomstick. The accused was then seen jumping a metal barrier there.”

The ambulance arrived shortly later after the 32-yearold witness called them.

The accommodation’s 30-year-old supervisor, from Cameroon, told the prosecutor he heard screams in the hallway between rooms. “I saw the victim lying down screaming from pain. He was bleeding heavily from his chest and abdomen. I then spotted the accused running and then jumping. He landed on the ground floor and looked obviously hurt because of the jump. The knife used in stabbing the victim was found near the accused. It was seized by the police.

“I had the accused restrained at the security guards’ room until the arrival of the police,” the supervisor said adding the victim reached the hospital dead. “The accused’s visa cancelation procedure had just been completed. He had a ticket booked to travel back home on the incident day. But he could not make it.”