Dubai: A baker has been jailed for five years for trying to kill two sex workers in their flat with a paper cutter.
The 22-year-old Afghan accused forced his way into the flat in Naif and stabbed the two women — a 30-year-old Bangladeshi and a 35-year-old Indonesian — in the neck, back, face and shoulders in March.
He then fled the scene, but police tracked him down in the same area.
Swift medical intervention saved the lives of the women.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the baker of attempted double murder after he admitted to stabbing the women.
He, however, told the court that he did not intend to kill them.
When presiding judge Urfan Omar asked him why he attacked the women, the baker replied: “A group of men coerced me to do so while they waited outside the place.”
A police corporal said they were informed about the attack at midnight, but when they reached the location, the accused had already fled.
“As we were combing the area, an Indian pedestrian told us that he saw the suspect going a certain direction. We followed blood drops on the ground and found the suspect leaning on the door of a store … he was tired, his leg was injured and blood stained his clothes. We did not find the crime weapon with him when we searched him,” the corporal testified.
The Bangladeshi woman told prosecutors that the defendant came to her place and attacked her first. “He stabbed me in my head, neck, back and shoulders and I fell down. He then attacked the other woman,” she testified.
The Indonesian woman gave a similar statement to the prosecutors.
According to records, the Bangladeshi woman granted a waiver to the assailant.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
