Dubai: A worker will be jailed for seven years for knifing his co-worker to death following a year of alleged sexual abuse.
The 22-year-old Pakistani worker was reportedly walking in Al Qouz in September 2017 around 11pm when his countryman co-worker phoned him to come immediately as he wanted to have sex with him.
The victim’s request enraged the 22-year-old who went to a store, purchased a knife for Dh22 and went to meet his countryman in a parking lot.
When he arrived, the co-worker grabbed him by his arm and asked him to go with him to his room to have sex with him.
When the 22-year-old refused, the co-worker tried to drag him to the house by clutching his clothes. The defendant then took out the hidden knife and stabbed him four times in his chest and belly.
The co-worker walked a few steps before collapsing.
In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 22-year-old defendant of killing his countryman.
The accused appealed his primary judgement before the Appeals Court and sought to have his punishment reduced.
Prosecutors also appealed the same ruling and sought to have it increased to a life imprisonment.
On Wednesday, the appellate court dismissed the appeals of the prosecutors and the defendant and upheld the seven years jail term.
Presiding judge Dr Ahmad Al Mutawa said the accused, who admitted that he stabbed the victim, will be deported after serving his jail term.
Citing grounds of leniency, the appellate court handed the defendant a seven-year imprisonment after he maintained that he acted in self-defence.
Records said the accused sat down beside his co-worker, who was breathing his last, apologised to him for what he had done and cried.
A crowd of pedestrians spotted what had happened and gathered around them before one of them called the police.
A police sergeant said the accused tried to run away from the parking lot when he spotted the police car arriving.
“I stepped out of the police car quickly and chased him because he seemed to have been involved in the stabbing as his clothes were covered with blood. Once I stopped him, he seemed scared, confused and nervous. I walked him towards the stabbed person, who was still breathing heavily then … we called an ambulance that rushed the victim to the hospital. On-site inspections revealed the suspect had thrown the murder weapon between two parked buses nearby. Upon following up with the operations room, we were informed that the victim died before reaching hospital. The suspect alleged that he stabbed the victim in a fit of revenge,” the sergeant told prosecutors.
The defendant told prosecutors that the victim had been abusing him sexually for a year and had constantly coerced him to have sex with him under the threat of having him sacked from work.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 30 days.
