Dubai: Thirteen men have been accused of trying to kill a worker and assaulting two brothers following a group fight that erupted after somebody’s laundry went missing.
The Pakistani brothers had hung their laundry in the corridor of the accommodation that they shared with their 13 countrymen, aged between 20 and 35, in September.
When the younger brother went out to the corridor to pick up the laundry, according to records, he discovered that it had disappeared.
Then when he asked one of the men [30-year-old A.R.] present in the corridor, the latter told him that he had thrown it in the bathroom before the two had a heated argument.
Records said the heated argument developed into a fight after younger brother called his older brother and told him what had happened.
A.R. called up his friends [the remaining 12 men] while the brothers called up their cousins and a group fight ensued.
The 13 men tried to kill one of the cousins by stabbing him in his stomach and thigh and beat the brothers with wooden sticks and cursed them as well.
Prosecutors accused the Pakistani suspects of attempted murder, assault and cursing.
A.R. and two others failed to show up before the Dubai Court of First Instance to enter their plea on Tuesday.
The remaining 10 suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted all their accusations before presiding judge Shaikha Hamad.
“I did not stab him … there was a group fight and the victim [the stabbed worker] injured himself by mistake as he had a knife in his hand. I did not try to kill him,” said 28-year-old R.H. [one of the detained suspects] in court.
Four of the 13 suspects are in custody while the rest are out on bail.
The young brother claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened shortly after he went out to take the laundry.
“When A.R. told me that he had thrown the laundry in the bathroom, I had a heated argument with him. Then I informed my brother what had happened … my brother went out to check why our laundry had been thrown in the washroom. We realised that A.R. had called up his friends [the rest of the suspects] and they armed themselves with wooden sticks and some of them had knives. When they assaulted us, my brother called up our cousin [the one who was stabbed]. They arrived quickly as they lived in the same neighbourhood in Naif. The suspects [namely A.R. and R.H.] stabbed my cousin who collapsed,” he testified to prosecutors.
Records said swift medical intervention helped save the life of the worker who was rushed to hospital immediately.
The stabbed worker claimed to prosecutors that he rushed to assist his cousins who had called him and told him that a group of men assaulted them in their residence at 11pm.
“When I went to check what had happened, I realised that the suspects had ganged up against my cousins. When I tried to intervene and stop the fight, the suspects stabbed me with a small knife,” he testified to prosecutors.
A ruling will be heard on June 7.
