Two managers have sentence upheld after security guard crushed to death in Dubai

Safety supervisor and project manager must jointly pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the victim's family

A safety supervisor and a project manager were given a one-month suspended prison sentence after a security guard died while on duty. Photo: AFP

Two building site managers had their sentences upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeal on Tuesday after a security guard was crushed to death between a crane and a lorry.

The men, a safety supervisor, 35 and a project manager, 28, both from India, were given a suspended sentence of a month, fined Dh3,000 each and ordered to jointly pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the dead man's family.

The first verdict for causing the wrongful death of the guard was given by the Dubai Misdemeanour Court, where the judges said they had been lenient. The victim was found to be partly to blame for his death.

Prosecutors seeking a tougher punishment took the case to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the sentence.

Court records showed that the incident happened after 8pm on August 28 last year at the site of an under-construction villa in Jumeirah.

Judges were told that a lorry carrying a medium-sized electric generator arrived at the site, but workers needed a crane to help move it.

The man who died was a security guard and drove the crane that was on site closer to the lorry.

He then jumped between the crane and the lorry to tighten the ropes around the generator.

The crane then moved and crushed the guard as the brakes were not functioning properly, the driver of the lorry told the court.

“Instead of moving away, the deceased tried to stop the crane by pushing it away from him, but he failed and was stuck between the two vehicles,” the driver said.

A medical report said the man died of injuries to his chest and abdomen.

Dubai Municipality inspectors said in their report that the causes of the accident included allowing the security guard to operate the crane when he was not qualified, and a failure of safety procedures.

The two men were charged with wrongfully causing the guard’s death.

They denied the charge in court but were found guilty.