Dubai: A worker, who claimed he was defending himself when he stabbed his co-worker to death without intending to kill him following a physical fight, has been jailed for 10 years.

The 23-year-old Indian worker had a heated argument before it led to a physical fight with his countryman at their labour accommodation in Al Quoz Industrial Area in September last year.

Workers in the labour accommodation saw the victim chasing the defendant before he collapsed and died in a corridor after having sustained several knife wounds.

On Thursday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the accused of killing his co-worker and jailed him for 10 years.

“The murder weapon will be confiscated and the defendant deported following the completion of his punishment,” said presiding judge Urfan Omar.

The accused had pleaded innocent and cited self-defence.

“I did not intend to kill him. I was defending myself since he was the one who had initiated the assault. He pushed me off an edge and I fell down and fractured my arm,” the accused told the court.

The defendant pointed to several metal nails that had been used in a surgery to fix his arm as he maintained that he acted in self-defence and did not intend to kill the victim.

A Pakistani technician said he saw the defendant running away from the victim, who was shouting before he suddenly fell down.

“I had just walked out of the washroom when I heard cries. I saw the victim running behind the defendant … the victim suddenly stopped running, and when he turned towards me, I saw his shirt covered with blood. Then he collapsed on the ground. The accused jumped over the 15-metre-high iron fence at the end of the corridor. I called an ambulance and the police. Police found a knife at the accommodation where the defendant was believed to have stabbed the victim,” the technician said.

The accommodation’s Cameroonian supervisor testified that the defendant had cancelled his visa and was scheduled to fly back to India the same day when the incident occurred.

“Two workers spotted the victim chasing the defendant before he collapsed … it was deduced that the accused was running away from the victim after stabbing him,” the supervisor said.

Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.