Dubai hotel employees sentenced to life in jail for murdering colleague

The two men attacked the victim in a pedestrian tunnel

Two hotel employees who murdered their colleague in a pedestrian tunnel have been sentenced to life in prison.

Dubai Criminal Court was told that on June 18 last year, the Pakistani defendants, 30 and, 24, assaulted the victim, whose age and nationality were not disclosed in records.

A Pakistani co-worker told prosecutors that he, the victim and both defendants left their workplace at a five-star hotel in Naif on the day of the incident and walked to their nearby accommodation.
"It was unusual because they (the defendants) had never accompanied us before and they don't live at the same accommodation on Khaled Bin Al Waleed street," said the witness.
As the group of four arrived to a pedestrian tunnel, the witness received a phone call and stopped walking with the others.
"I stayed behind to take the call and about three minutes later I heard screams coming from inside the tunnel, so I rushed there and saw the two men assaulting him brutally," he said.
The witness called the police and the man was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries –a bleed in his skull, the coroner's report said.
The witness told prosecutors that he thought the attack had been planned. The nature of the dispute remains unclear.
Both men fled the country following the murder and were found guilty in absentia of murder. They were both sentenced to life in prison to be followed by deportation.
Once arrested, they have the right to apply for a retrial.