Man allegedly stabbed Dubai labourer multiple times over insult

Victim was stabbed in his face, neck, chest and back in a labour camp room.

DUBAI // A man is accused of stabbing his countryman more than five times in the face, neck, chest, back and arms with a kitchen knife before leaving him for dead in a pool of blood.

Indian NF, 39, told the Dubai Criminal Court today that he could not have committed the crime as he was lying in his room unwell despite a police officer testifying that he found the man in the victim's room with a knife in his hand.

NF gave the court a letter that supposedly proves his sickness claim.

Prosecutors said that, on October 23 last year, the defendant walked into victim SO's room and stabbed him in the neck as he slept.

When he woke up, terrified, SO, who is said to have had previous disputes with NF, tried to escape but was stabbed several more times.

The 34-year-old victim ran out of his room at a labour camp in Al Quoz industrial area and fell unconscious. Five days later he woke in hospital, his life saved by early surgical intervention, a forensics report said.

Prosecutors said the defendant had been sacked from work on the day of the incident and had left SO in a pool of blood believing he had died.

Police corporal WN, 25, testified that he received a call to attend the scene at 1pm.

He called an ambulance and the victim was taken to Rashid Hospital, where he underwent several surgical procedures that saved his life.

"The workers told me about the defendant being in the victim's room, so I tried to open the door but it was locked. I heard the voice of a man inside and I then forced the door open to see the defendant sitting on the bed and holding a knife in his hand," said WN.

He added that NF then placed the knife on the floor and answered his questions about the stabbing. "He said he stabbed the victim because he insulted him," said WN.

The next hearing will be on September 30 to appoint a defence lawyer for the defendant.