DUBAI // A butcher who stabbed a flatmate in the head with a kitchen knife so hard he broke the blade in two has been sentenced to life in jail for murder.
The 27-year-old Indian waited until he was alone with his victim, also Indian, before attacking him in January a labour accommodation in Al Qusais.
After fracturing the man’s skull and breaking the blade with the force of his attack, he grabbed a second knife and continued to stab the victim 19 times in the head, chest, back and stomach.
He then wrapped the body in a blanket, which he placed under a bed before fleeing the scene, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
The man’s body was found when a colleague went to check on him as he was not at work.
Police arrested the defendant after his fingerprints were found on a fridge near the body.
“He told us the man kept threatening to kill him if he did not allow him to have sex with him,” said an Emirati officer, adding he confessed to the killing during questioning.
He was not in court to enter a plea to charges of premeditated murder. The court sentenced him in absentia to life in jail followed by deportation.
salamir@thenational.ae