Dubai court clears men of accidentally killing co-worker

Three men convicted of causing the death of a worker who died when a wall collapsed on him are acquitted by the appeals court.

DUBAI // Three men blamed for the death of a labourer killed by a collapsing wall were today cleared by the Appeals Court.

The Indian workers SB, a 50-year-old safety officer, and BG, 34, and the Egyptian MS, a 33-year-old civil engineer, were convicted of mistakenly killing the man by the Misdemeanour Court last year and sentenced to a year in prison each in addition to paying blood money of Dh200,000 to the man's family.

But the Appeals Court accepted the argument of the three men, who worked at Al Shafar Contracting Company, that they were not responsible for the man's death and overturned the lower court's verdict. No reason was given for the rejection of the previous verdict.

The wall collapsed at about 7am at the construction site of the Anwix project in the Gardens. BG had been filling a gap behind the wall with sand and this pushed the wall over, onto the labourer, who was standing on the other side.

The safety officer heard the labourer's screams and ran over to find him lying on the ground with rubble covering his right leg. He said the rest of the labourer's body was unaffected. However, as the labourer was pulled from beneath the collapsed wall the safety officer noticed he also had a head injury.

He said that the labourer had been wearing a helmet, but that this must have rolled off during the collapse of the wall. The three men called an ambulance, but by the time it arrived the labourer had died.