Labourer who knifed countryman 20 times has sentence increased to 15 years

Pakistani said his victim was pestering him for sex and, on the morning of the incident, he lost his cool

A labourer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stabbing another man 20 times in what Dubai Police described as a “very violent” attack will now serve 15 years after prosecutors appealed seeking a harsher punishment and won.

The Pakistani, 32, admitted killing his compatriot but denied planning the crime, which took place in December last year at a labour accommodation block in Dubai’s Al Qusais.

The murderer had been living in the building temporarily after his visa was cancelled and he had planned to return home, however he claimed that the victim had asked him for sex on a number of occasions.

“During my stay, he used to touch me, sometimes from behind, and often asked to have sex with me. I turned him down but, on that day, I went to the toilet at about 4am. He came and said he wanted to have sex. Things heated up and I went to the kitchen, got a knife and stabbed him,” said the attacker.

When he appeared at Dubai Criminal Court in February he told judges that he didn’t plan the murder ahead of time. “It happened on the spot. We argued when he followed me to the toilet and tried to sexually abuse me, so I went to the nearby kitchen, got a knife and attacked him, but it was not my intention to end his life,” he told the court.

Indian and Pakistani workers who witnessed the incident gave testimonies, as did police officers who attended the crime scene.

An Emirati police captain said: “We received the report at dawn on December 7 from the labour accommodation in Al Qusais. We found the corpse on the floor at the restroom entrance and close to the kitchen.”

The blood trail led them to the knife, he said, which was hidden behind a water tank.

“It was very violent and when we arrested the killer the same day, he had a knife wound on one of his hands,” the captain said.

The man was sentenced to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation but prosecutors appealed asking for a harsher sentence. Dubai Court of Appeal on Tuesday sentenced him to 15 years in jail, followed by deportation.