Court of Appeal upholds imprisonment of worker for attempted murder

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a verdict issued by the Court of First Instance sentencing a worker to one year in jail to be followed by deportation for attempting to kill his workmate following a verbal altercation that snowballed into a fight.

The case dated back to last January when the police received a report stating that a worker was stabbed by his workmate inside a labour camp in the Warsan area of Dubai. A patrol and an ambulance rushed to the scene of the incident.

A policeman stated that he saw the victim bleeding from an injury to his abdomen and leg. The victim was taken to the hospital after receiving first aid while the perpetrator was arrested at the scene.

According to a witness, the defendant pulled a knife from under his pillow and stabbed the victim after a dispute that snowballed into a fight between them as the defendant was talking loudly on his phone late at night, disrespecting his roommates.

The victim stated in the interrogations that he asked the defendant to respect the company’s rules of sleeping early and not disturbing roommates and consequently to end his phone call or to continue to talk outside their bedroom but the defendant, who was annoyed by his request, quarrelled with him.

The victim added that he was surprised when the defendant pulled out a knife that was hidden under his pillow and stabbed him in the left leg and abdomen before their workmates intervened and pushed the defendant away, informed the police accordingly and called an ambulance.

The forensic doctor’s report stated that the victim was attacked with a knife and was suffering from a penetrating stab wound and bleeding in the abdomen and another wound on the top of his left leg, adding that the wounds were fatal and could have led to his death had he not received the necessary medical treatment.

During the court session, the defendant denied the charges, pleading that on the day of the incident he was in a bad psychological state due to the death of his son and did not know how he had injured the victim.