Dubai

A worker has been accused attempting to kill his roommate by stabbing him while he was sleeping.

The 27-year-old Bangladeshi worker, M.D., was said to have hidden the knife under his pillow and waited for his countryman tailor, M.K., to go to bed before he stabbed him in August.

Prosecutors accused M.D. of premeditatedly trying to kill M.K.

The suspect pleaded not guilty when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the suspect had planned in advance to kill M.K. as he hid the knife under his pillow and waited until his roommate went to be bed before he attacked him.

“I had no intention to kill him and I did not plan this in advance … it happened suddenly. I wanted to assault him because of a financial dispute between us but I had no plans to try to kill him,” the suspect told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

Swift medical intervention helped save the life of M.K. who was rushed to hospital.

The tailor claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened early morning when he was sleeping in his bed in Al Nakheel area.

“The suspect stabbed me repeatedly while I was asleep. He did so because I had been asking him to repay me the Dh2,000 that I had lent him earlier. He stabbed me four times in my stomach, hand and shoulder and he also stabbed me four times in my back. Obviously he had intended to kill me because he stabbed me while I was sleeping so I could not defend myself or call for help,” testified the tailor.

A Bangladeshi eyewitness, who shared the same room, claimed to prosecutors that he woke up in the morning when he heard the victim screaming in pain.

“I woke up when I heard M.K. shouting and falling from his bed. He cried ‘help me … save me someone is killing me’. When I looked at him, M.K. was bleeding profusely from different parts of his body. Meanwhile M.D. sat on the side of his bed and gazed at us silently and calmly while we tried to save the victim … and then we called an ambulance. When police arrived at the scene, the suspect turned himself in as he had earlier claimed to us that he had stabbed M.K.,” testified the eyewitness.

A police sergeant claimed to prosecutors that the defendant admitted to him that he purchased the knife from a nearby grocery and stabbed the tailor.

Presiding judge Omar said the court will appoint a lawyer to defend the suspect when it reconvenes on February 18.