Dubai: A jobless man, who stabbed a clubber with a broken bottle following a group fight outside a nightclub, has been jailed for 15 years.
The 31-year-old Pakistani man, S.M., rushed to a petrol station, bought two bottles of a beverage and then went to fight a group of his countryman, who had earlier assaulted him in a nightclub in Al Rifa’a.
S.M. handed a bottle to his friend to fight back before he broke his glass bottle and stabbed the victim in his neck and killed him in March 2015.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced S.M. to 15 years in jail for intentionally killing the victim, A.H., who had assaulted the defendant earlier.
S.M. had pleaded not guilty contending that he acted in self-defence and didn’t intend to kill the victim.
“I did not decide in advance to kill him … it happened unintentionally. I had been drinking alcohol in the nightclub and as I walked out of the place. I saw seven men ganging up against my friend and beating him up. I tried to intervene and stop the fight to save my friend. The men assaulted me brutally and then I do not remember what happened thereafter. I was too drunk to remember what happened. But I did not intend to kill the victim,” S.M. argued as he defended himself.
An Egyptian attendant at the petrol station testified that he spotted two groups of men fighting outside the hotel’s nightclub.
“I saw the accused walk into the store at the station quickly and then leaving instantly after he purchased two bottles. I knew that something bad was about to happen … so I called the police,” he said.
A police lieutenant testified that S.M. and two other suspects were identified from surveillance cameras in nearby buildings.
“Primary interrogations led to the arrest of the three men. S.M. was the main suspect. He claimed that the incident happened after he went to the nightclub with his friends to consume liquor. He said when he was still at the nightclub, a group fight erupted and he was beaten up. During the brawl, he went and purchased two Barbican bottles … he gave one to his friend to use in the fight and kept the other one. Then he claimed that he broke the bottle and used the sharpened side and stabbed the victim in his neck. S.M. alleged that he left the scene of the fight in a taxi before police arrested him later … he claimed that he was outraged after he was beaten by the victim and his friends in the nightclub,” the lieutenant said.
The other two suspects were not accused of murder.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.