Dubai: Three men were sentenced to jail for trying to kill a worker and assaulting two brothers following a group fight that erupted after the brothers’ laundry went missing.

The Pakistani brothers had hung their laundry in the corridor of the accommodation that they shared with 13 of their countrymen, aged between 20 and 35, in September.

The younger brother discovered that the laundry had gone missing, records stated. When he asked one of the suspects, A.R., who was present in the corridor, the latter told him that he had thrown it in the bathroom sparking a heated argument. The argument developed into a fight after the younger brother called his older brother and told him what had happened.

A.R., 30, called up his friends (the rest of the suspects) while the brothers called up their cousins and a group fight ensued.

The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed A.R. and another suspect, R.B., for three months each and fined them Dh2,000 on charges of assault and cursing.

Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal also jailed a third defendant, R.H., for six months and fined him Dh3,000 over attempted murder.

“R.H. will be deported after serving his punishment,” said the judge.

Meanwhile, 10 men were acquitted for lack of corroborated evidence.

The suspects tried to kill one of the cousins by stabbing him in his stomach and thigh and beat the brothers with wooden sticks and also cursed them.

Prosecutors accused the suspects of attempted murder, assault and cursing.

The suspects pleaded not guilty.

The younger brother said 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 [A.R. and R.H.] stabbed my cousin who collapsed,” he told prosecutors.

Records said swift medical intervention helped save the life of the stabbed worker.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.