Dubai: Two carpenters have been jailed for seven years each for repeatedly kicking a co-worker who died after being hospitalised for nearly one month.

The Indian carpenters had been drinking with their countryman near their labour accommodation at Dubai Investment Park when they got into a fight in February.

The victim sustained critical head injuries and was rushed to the hospital but he died nearly a month later, according to records.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the duo of assaulting the victim and causing his death.

Dubai Police’s forensic examiner confirmed that the deceased suffered several infarctions that obstructed the blood supply to different vital centres of the brain and caused his death after blood circulation and respiration stopped.

The defendants had pleaded innocent and refuted any liability for the victim’s death.

According to Monday’s ruling, presiding judge Urfan Omar said the accused will be deported following the completion of their jail terms.

“I was too drunk to remember what happened,” one of the defendants told the court.

The second defendant admitted that he consumed liquor but denied assaulting the victim and being responsible for his death.

A police corporal testified that Dubai Police’s operations room was alerted about an assault having taken place at Dubai Investment Park at 1.30am.

“A police team rushed to the crime scene. One of the witnesses who had reported the incident said he and his colleagues were walking back to their residence when they spotted the defendant kicking the victim repeatedly on his head. He said the victim’s head was covered with blood. The claimant said the duo fled once they spotted them. Primary interrogations led to the arrest of the defendants one at a time,” the corporal testified.

Witnesses identified the defendants instantly following their arrest, said records.

A Bangladeshi cleaner [one of the witnesses] said that he and his co-worker spotted the defendants kicking the victim on his head while he was down on the ground.

“They repeatedly kicked him in an open area near a supermarket. We rushed towards them and they ran away once they saw us. We managed to stop one of them and informed the police. The victim was covered in blood,” he testified.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.