Dubai: Three men, who stabbed a payroll officer in a street and snatched Dh135,000 from him, have been jailed for five years each.
The trio, an Afghan porter and two Pakistani jobless men, robbed the Indian payroll officer at knifepoint in Al Ghusais in September 2015.
The Indian victim, who worked in a Dubai-based trading company, sustained 15 per cent permanent disability, said records.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the trio of assaulting the victim and causing him a permanent disability and stealing Dh135,000.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the trio, who had pleaded not guilty, will be deported after serving their punishments.
The victim testified that he had just withdrawn the money from a bank on Damascus Road to pay the workers’ salaries, when he was mugged and the envelope containing the cash was snatched from him. "The three defendants escaped from the scene leaving me with severe injuries on my shoulder, wrist and chest on Damascus Road, he said.
“I had put the money in an envelope and walked out of the bank, when one of the defendants came from behind and snatched the envelope from me. I chased him and tried to catch him but he took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed me repeatedly. I tried to get hold of him again, but my injury held me back. Then a pedestrian came to my help he called the police,” the payroll officer testified.
An Indian businessman said he spotted the victim injured and bleeding in the street before he informed the police about the incident.
A policeman said primary interrogations revealed that the trio had been involved in the robbery and they were hiding in Sharjah.
“We raided the defendants’ place and arrested them. The Afghan porter admitted that he and the Pakistani duo robbed the victim outside a bank in Dubai. The porter said when the Indian victim resisted them, they stabbed him and escaped from the scene and split the money among themselves,” said the policeman.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
