Dubai: A blacksmith has been jailed for life for intentionally killing his co-worker who groped his posterior thrice and wanted to have sex with him.

In May, the 21-year-old Pakistani blacksmith drank beer and returned to his room at the labour accommodation where his Indian co-worker also resided.

The Indian and his countryman friend were sitting in the stairway at 10.30pm, when the Pakistani accused tried to go up the stairs to his room and asked them to give him way.

When he squeezed his way between the two men, the Indian co-worker patted the defendant’s thigh and then slid his hand up to his posterior and groped him. He did that twice before the angry blacksmith managed to get away and go to his room.

In anger, the young man grabbed a knife from his room, hid it under his clothes and walked back to the stairway where the Indian duo were seated.

When he asked indignantly why the Indian man had touched his posterior, the latter groped his backside a third time.

The 21-year-old instantly pulled out the knife and stabbed the co-worker in his chest and his friend, who tried to get away, in the back.

On Wednesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the Pakistani defendant to life in jail for premeditatedly killing the victim and attempting to kill his friend.

Records said swift medical intervention helped save the life of the friend, who sustained a 10mm knife wound in his back.

Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported and the murder weapon confiscated.

The accused contended in court that his intention was to scare the victim and not to kill him, after the latter molested him.

The Indian friend testified that the defendant was drunk, when he stabbed the deceased and tried to kill him as well. “I ran away quickly after he stabbed me. I locked myself up in my room and asked my roommates to call an ambulance,” he claimed.

A police sergeant said the defendant was apprehended hiding beside a mosque in Al Qouz. “When we apprehended him, his Pakistani dress was stained with blood. During questioning, he said that he was drunk and heading to his room when the victim touched him in a sexual way. The accused admitted that he got outraged and went to his room and got a knife. He then returned to the stairs and stabbed the victim, after he groped him for a third time and wanted to have sex with him. The 21-year-old said he went to the accommodation’s supervisor and informed him about stabbing the victim. He then ran away and threw the knife between parked trucks, and claimed he remained in hiding until his arrest,” the sergeant testified.

The ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.