Fourteen jailed over premeditated murder

Dubai: Fourteen men have each been given jail terms, varying from three to five years, after being convicted of the premeditated murder of an Iranian, who was reportedly blackmailing them for selling liquor.

Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced 12 of the 14 Indian men to five years in jail while the other two defendants were each given three years.

Dubai Public Prosecution had charged the 14 accused, aged between 21 and 40, with using iron bars to beat the victim, H.M, to death.

A police officer testified earlier that the operations room was informed about an assault in Al Quoz Industrial Area.

The Iranian victim later died in Rashid Hospital of the injuries he suffered from the gruesome beatings.

The court heard that the victim and his UAE national friend, D.A, approached one of the suspects, K.S, who was selling liquor.

The pair reportedly tried to blackmail K.S. and sought money and liquor from him. K.S. refused.

The pair then reportedly did the same to another suspect, S.B., who also refused.

Police are still searching for D.A.

Primary investigations revealed that the fugitive and the victim frequently blackmailed their attackers.

In their statement to the public prosecution, some of the suspects confessed that they had planned to get rid of the 'blackmailers'.

Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm, who presided over the trial, awarded each of the accused varying jail terms, of between two and three months, for liquor-related charges besides overstaying and illegally working for different sponsors.

Retrial in card game killing case

A retrial has been ordered in the case of a man who killed his roommate in Sharjah after they had a brawl over a card game.

The man, identified as O.J, was playing a game of cards with his three flatmates. His partner in the game, T.S, made a mistake while playing, which made O.J. angry, causing him to argue with T.S.

O.J. then grabbed a shoe and threw it at T.S. The shoe hit T.S.'s neck causing his death. According to the forensic report, the blow was so strong that it damaged the veins on the left side of his neck and caused internal bleeding, and heart and lung failure.

The Sharjah Criminal Court accused O.J. of premeditated murder and ordered the death penalty. T.S. appealed and the court changed the charges from premeditated murder to assault leading to death. The court sentenced him to three years in jail followed by deportation.

The Public prosecution appealed, and the family of T.S. demanded the death penalty.

The Federal Supreme Court ordered a retrial in the case.