Dubai: Three men stood trial on Tuesday for allegedly stabbing a payroll officer in a street and stealing from him Dh135,000 that he had withdrawn from a bank to pay workers’ salaries.
The trio — an Afghan porter and two Pakistani jobless men — were said to have robbed the Indian payroll officer at knifepoint in Al Ghusais around 11am in September 2015.
The Indian who was stabbed with a knife sustained 15 per cent permanent disability, said records. He works as a payroll officer in a Dubai-based trading company.
He told prosecutors that he had just withdrawn workers’ salaries from the bank when he was mugged and the envelope that contained the cash was snatched from him.
Prosecutors accused the three suspects of robbing the Indian in the street and attacking him with a knife.
The trio pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
The three defendants allegedly stole the salaries and absconded after they left behind the Indian victim with severe injuries in his shoulder, wrist and chest.
When asked if they can hire a lawyer to defend them, the trio told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal that they could not afford a lawyer.
The payroll officer claimed to the investigating prosecutor that the robbery happened on Damascus Road outside the bank.
“I had put the money inside an envelope and walked out of the bank, when one of the suspects came from behind and snatched the envelope. I chased him and tried to restrain him … suddenly he took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed me repeatedly. I tried to run behind him again, but my injury held me back. Then a pedestrian came and helped … then he called the police,” he said.
An Indian businessman testified to prosecutors that he spotted the payroll officer injured and bleeding in the street before he notified the police.
The stabbed man was rushed to hospital, said the businessman.
A policeman claimed to prosecutors that primary interrogations revealed that the three suspects had been involved in the robbery and were hiding in Sharjah.
“We raided the suspects’ place and apprehended them. The Afghan porter claimed during questioning that he and his two friends [Pakistani suspects] drove to Dubai and watched bank clients until they spotted the victim walking out with a white envelope … he claimed that he went out of the car, surprised the payroll officer and stole the salaries from him. The porter alleged that when the Indian victim resisted them, they stabbed him and ran away before they split the money among themselves,” testified the policeman.
Presiding judge Jamal will appoint a lawyer to defend the suspects when the court reconvenes on December 6.
