Dubai: A jobless man has been accused of luring his friend to a residential area where he repeatedly stabbed him with a sword to death, a court heard on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Emirati was said to have called his countryman friend and asked him to meet him in Oud Al Mutaina in January.
Unaware of what to expect, the friend went to the place and when he met the accused, according to records, the latter took out a 50-centimetre-long sword and stabbed him repeatedly.
An off-duty policeman happened to be driving back to his residence when he saw the accused from afar repeatedly attacking the victim with the sword.
Once the friend dropped motionless, the accused jumped on his quad bike that was parked nearby and rode away quickly, even as the policeman rushed to the aid of the stabbed person.
While the plain-clothed policeman was approaching, the victim stood up and tried to walk but fell down again following a few steps.
The witness [policeman] called the police and called for an ambulance.
The stabbed person was rushed to hospital but he succumbed to his wounds.
Records said the accused was not aware that the victim had died when he went and surrendered himself at the police station.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of premeditatedly killing the victim with a sword and consuming amphetamine and methamphetamine.
The reason behind the assault remained ambiguous in the available records.
The defendant pleaded not guilty and dismissed the charge of premeditated murder when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
“No. I don’t remember what happened,” the suspect said before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi in courtroom 3.
The Emirati witness [off-duty policeman] testified to prosecutors that he spotted the suspect stabbing the victim at 11.30pm.
“I had just dropped my cousin to his place and was heading home when I saw the victim being brutally stabbed by the suspect. I witnessed the attacker repeatedly stabbing the victim, who tried to protect himself with his arm. The attacks were very strong and severe … I saw the deceased being stabbed in his chest, head and arms. I stopped instantly and called the police … the suspect absconded on his quad bike. The victim was still conscious and when I asked him if he knew the attacker, he said no,” he claimed to prosecutors.
A police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors that the suspect turned himself in shortly after the assault and was not aware that the victim had died.
“He just admitted that he had attacked the victim … however he refused to cooperate and guide us to the place where he had thrown away the murder weapon,” he testified to prosecutors.
Presiding judge Al Shamsi adjourned the case until the accused hires a lawyer to defend him on April 18.
