Welder to spend life in jail for killing man over sex demands

Dubai: A welder has lost his appeal and will spend life in jail for stabbing his co-worker 19 times because he wanted to have sex with him.

The 27-year-old Indian welder first stabbed his countryman with a small knife. When the knife broke, he grabbed a bigger one and stabbed the victim until he died in January 2016.

Dubai Police’s forensic examiner said the victim’s autopsy confirmed that he sustained 19 fatal stab wounds.

In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the killer for life for intentionally killing the deceased.

The defendant appealed his primary judgement and sought to have his life sentence reduced.

Presiding judge Dr Ahmad Al Mutawaa rejected the defendant’s appeal and upheld his life sentence.

The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The accused took advantage of the fact that he was alone with the victim and stabbed him in his stomach with a small knife. He then picked up a big knife and stabbed the victim in his skull, head, neck, chest and stomach, said records.

A police lieutenant said that the victims’ body was found under his bed by his workmates in the labour accommodation and they informed the police about it.

“Primary interrogations led to the defendant’s arrest while he was at work. His fingerprints matched those lifted from the victim’s room. Upon confronting him with the findings, the accused said before the murder the victim had threatened to kill him if he did not have sex with him. He said he fought with the victim in his room and stabbed him with two knives. The defendant said he stabbed the victim with a bigger knife after the smaller knife’s handle broke. He then wrapped the knives in the victim’s towel and threw them away … he also claimed that he locked the room’s door and got rid of the key by throwing it away in a toilet,” the police lieutenant testified.

The victim’s workmates said that when he did not report to work, they discovered that he had not left his room as his shoes were outside and the door was locked.

A Bangladeshi eyewitness testified that when the victim did not answer the door he called him and heard his mobile ringing inside the room.

“We contacted the accommodation’s supervisor, who brought an extra key and we discovered the murder once we opened the door. There was blood on the floor,” he said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.