Dubai labourer gets five years for stabbing friend to death

Labourer who drunkenly stabbed his friend to death is sentenced to five years in prison.

DUBAI // A drunk labourer who killed his friend by stabbing him in the chest was yesterday sentenced to five years in prison.

Z?M, 26, from Myanmar, and his compatriot Z?N, were drinking alcohol at a labour camp in Al Quoz at about 11pm on April 23, 2010, when the first man went to the kitchen and got a knife. He watched his friend for about 15 minutes before walking slowly towards him and stabbing him.

A security guard said the stabbed man threw his weight towards his attacker in a fashion that made it look as if the two were "hugging". He pulled the men apart and the stabbed man fell to his knees, his hands covering his heavily bleeding chest.

The attacker repeatedly said: "No problem, my friend" and pointed at the stabbed man before running to a bathroom and throwing the knife away. When police arrived he said that while the two were friends, the dead man often assaulted him.

At the Criminal Court Z?M denied a charge of murder, saying: "I don't understand, he was my friend. I didn't kill him."

He was sentenced to an additional month in jail for consuming alcohol. He will be deported after his jail term.