Dubai: Three men on Wednesday won their appeal and were acquitted of stabbing a clubber to death outside a nightclub.
The Dubai Appeal Court cleared the Emirati trio, F.J., 22, K.A., 21 and A.Z., 19, of the premeditated murder of their countryman, I.M., outside a nightclub in Al Ghusais in February 2014.
According to Wednesday’s ruling, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected prosecutors’ appeal to overturn the primary ruling and confirmed the suspects’ innocence over uncorroborated evidence. The Emiratis had entered a not guilty plea and strongly refuted the accusation of murdering I.M. after ganging up against him in the car park while he was drunk.
“The defence respects the fact that law enforcement officers are always under pressure and have to finish their investigations in murder cases swiftly. However, when evidence against suspects is gathered hastily, the result would inevitably be their acquittal. My clients did not touch the deceased,” the trio’s lawyer, Saeed Al Gailani, argued before presiding judge Bin Sarm.
The incident happened in a parking lot and police, argued Al Gailani, could have found tens of witnesses and recruited informants to gather stronger evidence rather than being hasty and just depending on CCTV footage that showed F.J. holding a knife and stabbing another person. The prosecution’s evidence was unsubstantiated and insufficient to prove that his clients committed the crime, he added.
“The other person in the footage turned out to be K.A. [another suspect] and not the victim [I.M.]. Besides, the footage showed the stabbing took place in one of the passages of the underground parking. How did the body move up to the parking lot where it was found?” the lawyer asked.
An Indian waiter testified that shortly after he finished his shift and was heading home, colleagues told him there was a fight in the car park.
“When I went to check what had happened, my colleagues told me the people who were fighting had told them to stay inside. But I still went ahead. I reached the door and spotted two of the suspects running and asking me to stay inside. I turned to go to the office when suddenly one of them stabbed me in my thigh. I quickly went to the office and asked for help. I was rushed to hospital as soon as police and the ambulance arrived,” he claimed.
The lawyer argued that witnesses said the fight took place between men wearing kandoras, but the suspects were dressed in Western attire at the time of the incident.
“Prosecution witnesses’ statements were inconsistent,” said the lawyer.
A police lieutenant testified that the suspects were identified from CCTV footage.
“F.J. and K.A. were arrested in a villa under construction in Al Warqa’a. During questioning, the two suspects alleged they all went to the nightclub and saw a group of Emiratis fighting. When they failed to stop the fight, they left,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.
Records said A.Z. was arrested later.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 30 days.
