Dubai: A welder has been jailed for one year for attempting to murder a student with a cleaver after he and his friends discovered that the welder had been guarding a brothel.
The 26-year-old Vietnamese defendant, V.V., attacked the Syrian student on his head with a cleaver and tried to kill him when the latter went with his friends to the defendant’s apartment to give him an eviction notice in April 2014.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted V.V. of a murder bid although he had entered a not guilty plea.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal also fined the accused Dh10,000.
The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment, according to Tuesday’s ruling.
The Syrian victim testified that the incident happened when he went with friends to hand the eviction notice to the defendant who had rented the apartment in Dubai International City.
“The accused had rented a flat from the father of one of my friends. My friends asked me to wait at the building’s entrance while they went up to the flat … but I went up with them. We knocked up the door and then we were allowed in and asked to take a seat. We discovered that the flat was being used as a brothel and place for illegal massages. The person who answered the door thought we were clients. My friend called his dad and informed him that the flat was being run as a brothel … then he called the police. Suddenly a group of men, armed with swords and sharp tools, attacked us after they came from outside. I was hit on the head and collapsed unconscious,” he said.
A Pakistani neighbour, who lived in the adjacent flat, testified that when he went out to check the loud noises in the corridor he saw a lot of blood. A policeman said they apprehended the defendant before he tried to escape from the balcony.
Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
