Man not liable for friend’s death due to drug overdose

Dubai: Prosecutors lost their appeal against an unemployed man, who was cleared of providing his friend with a heroin injection and causing his death in a case of drug overdose.

Drug enforcement officers were alerted about a case of drug overdose when an Emirati was found dead in his car in Satwa in October 2015.

Drug officers cordoned off the area after the victim was found dead in the driver’s seat of his car parked on the side of the road at 9am.

The heroin syringe with which the deceased was believed to have been injected was also found under the seat, besides other banned pills and drugs.

Police investigation revealed that a 36-year-old jobless Emirati man had accompanied the victim in his car at the time when the incident happened.

Criminal investigation reports said the fingerprints lifted from the syringe matched with those of the 36-year-old man.

In September, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the suspect of providing the deceased with drugs that led to his death.

Prosecutors appealed the primary judgement before the Appeal Court.

On Wednesday, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm dismissed the prosecutors’ appeal and upheld the man’s acquittal citing lack of corroborated evidence. The suspect had denied the charge of having supplied the victim with drugs by injecting him with heroin through the arm.

An anti-narcotics policeman alleged that police were informed about a suspected drug overdose death in Satwa.

“We rushed to the location and found the victim dead in a car registered in his name. Forensic examiners lifted fingerprints from the crime scene … further investigation revealed that there were fingerprints of more than one person. We also found a cigarette butt and other drug materials on the car’s floor and under the seats,” the policeman told prosecutors.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.