Dubai: A cook lost his appeal and will serve a life sentence for stabbing his co-worker to death and trying to kill another after he claimed that they had sex with him while sleeping.

The 26-year-old Egyptian cook killed his Jordanian co-worker and injured his countryman colleague in September 2015.

The defendant attacked them after he overheard them discussing how they had sex with him while he slept.

In January, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 26-year-old accused of premeditated murder and murder attempt and jailed him for life.

The accused appealed his life sentence before the Court of Appeals.

When he appeared before the appellate court, he pleaded not guilty and cited self-defence.

He asked the court for a lenient punishment.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected his appeal and upheld the life sentence.

The defendant will be deported after serving the jail term, according to the ruling.

Swift medical intervention helped save the life of the Egyptian co-worker [also a cook] who was rushed to the hospital.

Dubai Police’s forensic examiner said the Jordanian worker died after he was stabbed in the neck.

According to the case details, a fatal stabbing in a building in Al Barsha at 5.30am was reported to Dubai Police’s operations room.

A police team was dispatched to the flat where the victim’s body was found outside a washroom door while the injured Egyptian was found in an adjacent flat that they all shared.

The wounded was taken to the hospital where he underwent an operation to treat the stab wounds in his belly and chest.

The Egyptian co-worker testified that he came to the flat after 10pm and saw the defendant seated on the deceased man’s bed and playing with his phone.

“He refused to join me for dinner … I ate, bathed and went to bed. One of our Egyptian coworkers had already gone to sleep and around 4.15am, the deceased returned from work and went directly to bed. He turned off the lights. The other Egyptian co-worker woke up and went to the bathroom. I heard the deceased shouting ‘Why did you do that …’” When I jumped out of bed to see what had happened, I saw the accused rushing towards me. He stabbed me several times and then dragged me to the floor.

“The deceased, who was injured and bleeding, opened the room’s door and ran out. I rushed to the bathroom, banged the door loudly, and asked the Egyptian co-worker to help me. When the latter came out and saw me bloodied, he freaked out and fled,” he said.

A Filipino witness said he spotted the accused assaulting the Egyptian victim.

Meanwhile, the defendant pleaded innocent and told prosecutors that he was in bed when he overheard them telling a third co-worker that they [victims] had raped him while he was sleeping.

“The co-worker went to the washroom while the deceased came to my bed and tried to undress me. I pushed him off me and fought with him. One of them tried to stab me while the other tried to immobilise me. I fought back and defended myself,” he said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.