Dubai: A painter who exchanged jokes with his colleague before he stabbed him to death has had his seven-year prison term increased to ten years.

The 23-year-old Pakistani painter, S.I., stabbed his countryman, J.A., with a kitchen knife that he was using to cut vegetables for dinner in November 2013.

The Dubai Appeal Court dismissed S.I.’s appeal for a reduced punishment and decided that the crime called for a jail term of ten years instead of seven.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif accepted the arguments put forward by prosecutors and increased the punishment of S.I., who admitted to stabbing J.A. but insisted he did not intend to kill the latter.

“The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term,” presiding judge Al Sharif said on Sunday.

Earlier, the accused contended in courtroom 20 that he did not pick up the knife with the intent to kill J.A. “We joked, the joking developed into a heated argument that ended with a [fight]. He hit me on my head first, and then I stabbed him in self-defence. I did not have any motive to kill him,” S.I. argued.

A Pakistani mechanic, R.A., testified that the defendant got into a quarrel with J.A. while preparing dinner in the kitchen at around 7.30pm.

“They were slicing vegetables at the table and were having a conversation that turned into a heated argument, they swore at each other. I asked them to stop cursing and tried to calm them down. They ignored me while each of them pulled out a knife and pointed it at the other’s face. I intervened quickly and tried to calm them down. The victim put down the knife on the table, unlike S.I. who stabbed J.A. in his chest. The victim shouted loudly and ran out from the kitchen to the garage’s supervisor who was present outside. The defendant threw down the knife and ran away,” R.A. testified.

The mechanic and his friend, A.K., carried J.A. to the car and rushed him to a hospital because he was bleeding profusely, according to records.

A policeman testified that R.A. and A.K. accompanied him to the crime scene and explained what happened.

“When the defendant arrived at the place where the incident happened, we arrested him. During questioning, he claimed that he stabbed J.A. because he cursed his mother and sister,” the policeman said.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.