Man denies stabbing compatriot to death outside hotel

A man accused of stabbing a compatriot to death using a broken glass bottle denied a premeditated murder charge when he appeared at the Dubai Criminal Court.

DUBAI // A man accused of stabbing a compatriot to death using a broken glass bottle denied premeditated murder when he appeared at Dubai Criminal Court.

Prosecutors said the 31-year-old Pakistani defendant left a nightclub at a hotel in Al Rafaa at 2am on March 25 last year and bought two bottles of Barbican from a nearby supermarket. He smashed one bottle and used it to stab the victim in the neck.

“I was getting out of the hotel and I was drunk. I saw about seven men assaulting one man so I tried to stop them but I don’t remember what happened next,” the defendant told the court.

A 25-year-old eye witness said he saw a group of men fighting near the hotel as he stopped at a petrol station opposite.

“I knew something bad was happening, so I called police then saw a man bleeding on the floor,” said the Egyptian.

“Several men assaulted the victim, but all of them said during questioning that the defendant was not satisfied with just a physical assault so he bought the bottles then used one to stab the man in his neck,” said a 28-year-old Emirati police lieutenant.

Records did not explain the nature of the dispute between the defendant and the victim.