Hotel employees get 25 years for murder

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two hotel employees murdered their colleague inside a pedestrian underpass. They were on Sunday sent to spend 25 years in jail.

The Asian defendant, 30, and accomplice, 24, assaulted the victim on various parts of his body with the aim of killing him, on June 18 last year, prosecutors explained during a hearing at the Dubai Criminal Court on April 10.

He sustained fatal injuries and bruises a per a coroner’s report. Prosecutors demanded the toughest punishment applicable. The court sentenced each one to 25 years behind bars to be followed by deportation.  A Pakistani worker narrated that he, the victim and both defendants left the workplace after their duties and walked towards their residences. “I and the victim stayed at an accommodation along Khaled Bin Al Waleed Street.

“Both defendants stayed at another accommodation. I was surprised to see them following us and insisting that they had to escort us to our accommodation. We walked together as we discussed,” explained the worker. Upon reaching a pedestrian underpass I received a phone call. I stood beside its entrance talking over the mobile while the victim and both defendants entered it. Three minutes later, I entered the underpass hearing screams.  I walked towards the direction of the screams and spotted the defendants assaulting the victim,” the worker said and supposed that the defendants had a scheme to murder the victim because they were not staying with them.   They made use of a time when I was talking over the mobile,” he added.  The nature of the misunderstanding that prompted both to murder the victim remained unclear. The ruling is subject to appeal within 14 days.

In a separate case, the Dubai Criminal Court on Sunday jailed a wielder for two years plus deportation over attempted murder. He stabbed his roommate for locking him outside after he had gone to use the washroom.

The 36-year-old Asian defendant was inebriated when he attempted to murder the Indian victim, 23, inside the labourers’ accommodation of a company in Al Qusais at midnight on Sept.7.2018.

The victim said, “The defendant woke up at midnight and went to the washroom. I also did so. Shortly, I returned and found lights off. I saw his blanket heaped. I thought he returned to sleep and covered himself.  I locked the door and fell asleep. I woke up to sounds of the door being banged. He was disappointed. I apologised.” In a fit of rage, the defendant picked a kitchen knife and struck his stomach twice, then his left upper arm and left armpit.