Suspect in court six years after murder

Dubai: A labourer accused of stabbing his roommate and compatriot to death in 2008, denied charges of premeditated murder yesterday.

The Indian national was arrested after returning to the country through Sharjah airport in May 2014.

“I am not responsible for his death. I did not kill him,” the suspect, 28, told the presiding judge.

According to court documents, the murder was discovered almost three years after it was committed. In March 2011, a man came across the decomposing body in the Jebel Ali Free Zone. After police investigation, the victim’s identity was determined and he was found to be reported missing by his employers in 2010.

Prosecutors said that the Indian suspect stabbed the victim with a knife, which he had hid in his clothes.

According to witnesses, the two shared a room in the company’s housing and had been involved in a number of disputes.

“He fled the country in early 2010, we alerted all ports and airports around the country,” a police witness told prosecutors. “He was arrested in May at Sharjah airport. The suspect was then referred to Dubai police.”

Records show the suspect initially admitted to police officers that he had stabbed his roommate.

“He admitted to murdering the victim by stabbing him four times in the chest, he claims it was in self-defence,” the policeman said. “He told us that the victim would incessantly insult him.”

Records show that on the night of the murder, the two men had gone out drinking with a third.

After a barrage of insults, prosecutors say the victim killed his compatriot then buried him in the desert.

“Apparently, the victim did not enjoy the suspect’s company. The night they met, the victim insulted the suspect, telling him he should not have come. Later that night, the suspect alleges that he stabbed the victim because he assaulted him with an alcohol bottle.” the policeman told prosecutors.

According to court documents, the suspect and his friend, who witnessed the murder, washed the blood off their clothes with seawater before returning to their rooms.

The court will reconvene for the case on January 25.