Dubai A visitor was handed a three-month suspended jail term for stabbing his friend with a knife over a visa issue.
The 34-year-old Pakistani visitor asked his 29-year-old countryman friend, who works in Dubai, to arrange a UAE labour residency for him in August 2016.
When the visitor reached Dubai, he realised that he had been issued a visit visa instead of a residency as agreed earlier with his 29-year-old friend.
The two were drinking alcohol together when the 29-year-old asked the 34-year-old to pay him Dh1,300, the remaining amount of Dh5,300 he agreed to pay him for arranging the visa for him.
Then they indulged in a heated argument before the 34-year-old stabbed his friend in his belly with a knife three times.
Swift medical intervention helped save the life of the victim, who suffered severe knife wounds in his intestines.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 34-year-old accused of stabbing his countryman with a knife.
Citing grounds of leniency, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed the 34-year-old a suspended imprisonment after he obtained a waiver from the 29-year-old victim.
However the court fined the defendants Dh1,000 for drinking.
The victim sustained a 10 per cent permanent disability in his belly.
The 34-year-old pleaded not guilty.
The 29-year-old victim said he knew the defendant from Pakistan.
“He contacted me and gave me Dh4,000 to arrange a UAE residency for him. I gave the money to another person to process the residency but the latter managed to get him [suspect] a visit visa. Once the defendant arrived in Dubai, I asked him to pay me the remaining balance [Dh1,300] … but he couldn’t. On the day of the incident, I phoned the accused and then met him at his residence in Satwa. We had a heated argument that developed into a fight … he stabbed me. I was too drunk to remember how many times he stabbed me,” he told prosecutors.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
