Dubai: A blacksmith was handed a three-month suspended imprisonment for trying to kill his co-worker by stabbing him with a knife following a heated argument during dinner.

A group of Afghans, including the two blacksmiths, were having dinner at their shared residence at a workers’ accommodation in Marmoum area in March 2018.

The blacksmiths, aged 23 and 21, and their roommates were dining when they had a heated argument before they exchanged foul language.

The 21-year-old and his 23-year-old countryman traded blows and the 23-year-old defendant took a knife and stabbed the other in his belly.

The stabbed victim took the same knife from his assailant and stabbed him in his hand in what he described to be an act of ‘self defence’.

The other men stopped the fight and called the police and an ambulance.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 23-yeare-old of attempting to murder the 21-year-old and sentenced him to three months in jail. However, the court suspended the imprisonment after the Afghans reconciled.

The assault charge was dropped against the 21-year-old defendant after he also reconciled with the 23-year-old defendant and obtained a waiver from him.

The 23-year-old will be deported.

The two defendants, who pleaded guilty, were rushed to hospital where swift medical intervention helped save the life of the 21-year-old blacksmith, who had been stabbed in his stomach.

Records said the 21-year-old inflicted a five per cent permanent disability to the other accused.

A police corporal said the duo exchanged assault over dinner following a heated argument.

“Once we arrived at the accommodations, we were informed that the 21-year-old had been stabbed in his stomach and rushed to hospital. Meanwhile, witnesses alerted us that the 23-year-old suspect and his co-worker had fled from the scene shortly after the stabbing. We recovered the knife and combed the surroundings of the accommodation in search of the suspects. We apprehended the 23-year-old suspect, who was found nearby and his hand was bleeding. The co-worker and another person were apprehended the next day but later their cases were dismissed,” he said.

An Afghan driver testified that the defendants fought a day before the incident.

“They had a heated argument and fought but we intervened and stopped them. The next day at 7pm, the 23-year-old suspect and his co-worker lured the 21-year-old to a room where they struck him with a wooden rod. I warned all to stop fighting and concentrate on work but they fought again and assaulted each other with a knife,” he told prosecutors.

The primary judgement remains subject to appeal.