Dubai: A technician, who fatally stabbed his supervisor because he had rejected his request for leave, will be jailed for life after a psychiatric evaluation proved him sane.

The 25-year-old Pakistani technician had submitted a request for leave but did not travel following his Indian supervisor’s disapproval in August 2017.

When the defendant discovered that his leave request had been disapproved, he knifed the victim to death after the latter refused to discuss the matter with him.

When he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance, the 25-year-old Pakistani pleaded not guilty.

In a previous hearing, the court referred the defendant to a special panel of psychiatrists to evaluate his sanity.

Thereafter, the defendant sat for a sanity test and the medical committee decided that he was found to be sane and responsible for his action at the time when he committed the crime.

On Sunday, presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi sentenced the accused for life in jail.

“The defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment,” said presiding judge Al Shamsi.

Court records said a week after submitting the leave request, the accused came to know that the victim had rejected his leave. When the supervisor refused to speak to the defendant, they had a heated argument before he killed him and tried to kill another co-worker.

Upon arriving on the murder scene at a labour accommodation in Jebel Ali area, police found that the co-worker had restrained the accused, who had tried to kill him with the same knife with which he killed the victim.

The defendant’s court-appointed lawyer defended in court that his client suffered from mental instability and had not been responsible and cannot be held liable for his criminal behaviour.

Prosecutors said the accused had planned to murder his supervisor in advance and knifed him to death once he bumped into him.

Dubai Police forensic examiner confirmed that the victim succumbed to fatal knife wounds in the aorta, kidney and lungs.

A police brigadier said on-site investigation confirmed that the accused had killed his supervisor due to work-related and accommodation problems.

“A witness, who was interrogated on the crime scene, said the defendant had hidden the knife in his dress. When we arrived at the accommodation, the co-worker had restrained the accused, whose hands and clothes were covered in blood,” said the brigadier.

The accused was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that he had requested to go on leave one week before the incident but when the supervisor refused his leave request and scolded him, he got angry and stabbed him.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal.