Dubai: Prosecutors have won their appeal against an electrician whose five-year imprisonment was doubled for killing his co-worker with a razor because he had smelly feet.

The 22-year-old Pakistani electrician and his countryman co-worker were resting in an air-conditioned electricity room during the midday break in July last year.

The co-worker slept on the floor and put his feet up facing the electrician’s face, before the latter asked him to remove his feet because they smelled bad.

When the co-worker refused, the two men had a heated argument that developed into a fight before other workmates intervened and stopped the brawl.

The 22-year-old went to a nearby warehouse at the construction site where they had been working, came back with a razor and stabbed the co-worker in his neck.

On-site surveillance cameras showed the electrician hiding the razor behind him before he attacked the victim three or four times.

Medical reports said the victim was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition on July 26 where he suffered profuse bleeding and slipped into a coma. Despite several operations, he succumbed to his injuries on July 31.

In June, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the defendant for five years for killing his countryman.

Prosecutors appealed the primary judgement and asked Appeal Court to stiffen the defendant’s imprisonment because he had intended to kill the victim. The accused also appealed his primary judgement and sought a reduced punishment.

“We had a fight and when he tried to assault me, I assaulted him back,” the defendant told the appellate court.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif rejected the defendant’s appeal and approved that of the prosecutors.

According to the appellate ruling, presiding judge Al Sharif sentenced the accused to 10 years in jail.

He will be deported after serving his punishment.

A Syrian supervisor said the incident happened shortly after he had permitted the workers to rest in the electricity room because it had an air conditioner.

“After lunch, the defendant and the victim got into a brawl after the latter slept with his feet near the defendant’s face. They quarrelled when the victim refused to move away his smelly feet. The security guard told me what had happened … when I went to the room, the defendant was not there and I told the victim to rest somewhere else. I was about to leave the place in my car, when a worker came running and told me that the accused had slashed the victim’s neck with a razor,” the Syrian supervisor testified.

A police sergeant testified that the defendant was apprehended from the worksite.

“He said the deceased had very smelly feet when he slept in front of him with his legs up near his face. When he asked the victim to move his feet away, he refused. Then they assaulted each other and when the deceased cursed him, he felt angry, so he got the razor and stabbed the victim,” the sergeant said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 27 days.