Dubai: Prosecutors won their appeal against a worker after a court overturned his acquittal and jailed him for one year for stabbing his co-worker and killing him.
In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 20-year-old Pakistani worker of murdering his co-worker after he contended that he had acted in self-defence when the victim tried to rape him while sleeping in a car.
Records said the defendant had met his countryman shortly after he quit his job and the latter [deceased] offered to hire him as a porter in May 2016.
The youngster had only worked for three days with his countryman before the latter tried to talk him into having sex with him several times.
On the day of the incident, the victim tried to undress the youth and have sex with him while he was asleep in a car, before the defendant found a knife in the storage box between the two seats and stabbed him.
Prosecutors appealed the defendant’s acquittal.
On Wednesday, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm overturned the defendant’s acquittal and jailed him for a year. The defendant was handed a lenient punishment due to his young age [under 21].
According to the appellate ruling, the accused will be deported.
The defendant’s lawyer argued in court that the suspect didn’t have any criminal intention.
“He was defending himself against being sexually abused by the victim. He was sleeping when the deceased took him by surprise, removed his dress and tried to have sex with him against his will. The defendant acted in self-defence and he did not have the intention to kill the victim. He just wanted to keep him away and dodge the rape attempt,” argued the lawyer.
Instantly after the stabbing, the victim stepped out of the car and the defendant ran away while the victim was still alive, said the lawyer.
The suspect had strongly denied the charge of intentionally murdering his co-worker and stealing his car and mobile phone.
“I had no intention of killing him … it happened so quickly. He wanted to have sex with me and I had been refusing his sexual advances. When he tried to force himself on me, we fought. I stabbed him in self-defence. I did not steal the car, but I drove it to reach Abu Dhabi. His mobile was in the car and that’s where I left it … I did not steal it,” the defendant told the appellate court.
A police sergeant said they were informed about a man [the victim] who had been assaulted and crying for help in the street.
“When we reached the crime scene, the victim was already dead. He had been stabbed once in his neck. Preliminary investigation led to the arrest of the 20-year-old in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
A Pakistani driver said he saw the victim bleeding and in a hysterical situation on the roadside at 2am.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.
