Sharjah: A man who murdered another in Sharjah has escaped the death sentence after the victim's parents pardoned him.

A Sharjah court sentenced the man, who was found guilty of murdering a man in a fight over Dh30 to just three years in jail after the dead man's parents pardoned him.

The Sharjah Sharia Court of First Instance recently sentenced the worker to death for killing his co-worker.

The death sentence, however, was reduced to a three-year jail term after the victim's parents forgave him, and he paid them the required "blood money".

The killer murdered his victim as they fought over the payment of Dh30 for the gas they had used for cooking.

According to court documents, the workers began brawling when the killer failed to pay the monthly Dh30 for his share of the cooking gas cost.

Police said the incident happened in Al Saja'a area, in the kitchen of a labour accommodation.

The killer was preparing lunch and the victim came to him, asking him to pay for the gas he was using.

Police said the Indian killer, identified as M.K., stabbed his victim with the sharp kitchen knife he was using to cut the vegetables.

According to the police, M.K. told his victim that he would pay the Dh30 when he received his salary the following month. But the victim started fighting with M.K.

M.K. told police that the victim, who was also Indian, cursed M.K.'s mother which outraged M.K. and he stabbed him with the knife in his hand. M.K. told police that he stabbed his victim in the back but he tried to bandage the man's wound to stop the bleeding.

M.K. told police that he had fallen onto his victim, who was lying on the floor of the kitchen, and that the knife had penetrated the victim's back.

The case was reported to police when a worker stopped a police patrol that was in the area.

Court documents showed that when police entered the accommodation they found the victim lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood, and the killer was standing near the door.

Police said M.K confessed, and showed police how he did it.

Court documents showed M.K. escaped Qisas (capital punishment) according to Sharia because he obtained the parents' pardon.