Dubai: A clerk has been accused pushing a man and being responsible for his death after he fell and sustained bleeding in his lungs following a friend’s birthday party.

The 50-year-old British clerk, S.L., was said to have met his countryman, P.A., at a common friend’s birthday party at a hotel in Tecom area when S.L. pushed P.A., who fell to the ground and suffered internal bleeding in October.

Records said P.A. was rushed to the nearest hospital where he was pronounced dead after he slipped in to a coma.

The suspect pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of being liable for the victim’s demise when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

According to the charges sheet, prosecutors said S.L. pushed P.A. with his arms and when the latter fell down he suffered severe bleeding that blocked his lungs and caused his death after slipping into a coma.

Records said the suspect did not intend to cause the victim’s death.

“I am not guilty,” S.L. contended before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.

An Indian taxi driver claimed to prosecutors that he witnessed the incident as five Britons [including the suspect] came to him to give them a lift.

“Three of them were women and they came into the vehicle … except for the suspect he went to speak with another man [the victim]. One of the women called the suspect several times to join them in the taxi to leave. I noticed that the suspect had a heated conversation with the victim … S.L. seemed to be angry and shouted loudly at the victim [P.A.] for nearly 15 minutes. Then the hotel’s security guard asked me to move my car away in order not to block the traffic flow … I moved my vehicle away to a nearby sandy spot. The woman continuously called the suspect to come to the car … but he did not. Then the suspect and the victim moved towards the sandy spot … they were three metres behind the car when I spotted the suspect pushing the deceased. The suspect then came into the car and I drove away … five minutes later, one of the female riders cried and asked to be dropped. I dropped everybody and returned to the same hotel where an ambulance had been called to the scene,” the driver testified to prosecutors.

P.A.’s wife claimed to prosecutors that her husband had promised to return home before midnight.

“He went to attend a birthday party … he had promised to return early because our son was sick. When he did not return home around 12, I called him repeatedly but he didn’t answer. At 4am, I received a phone call from a hospital and was told that P.A. had been admitted to the hospital. I rushed to the hospital where my husband had been admitted to the intensive care unit … a doctor informed me that he had been assaulted. He died the next day at noontime,” she testified.

The British suspect was quoted as telling prosecutors that he consumed liquor and pushed the victim in self defence after P.A. had pushed him. Medical reports confirmed that P.A.’s internal bleeding caused a dysfunction in the lungs, breathing and heart and that led to his demise. The trial continues.