RAK court imprisons man for life over friend’s murder

RAS AL KHAIMAH // A man has been sentenced to life in prison after he stabbed a friend in the chest, killing him.

Palestinian A B denied that he deliberately killed Emirati O D, 24, and said he stabbed the man once with a knife to scare him.

On August 28, 2014, A B and the victim were at the house of their friend, Y S, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, when A B and Y S attempted to force the victim into a sexual act after coercing him to take drugs, the public prosecution heard.

When a fight started between O D and A B, Y S left for a time, during which the stabbing took place.

Y S then returned and saw the victim bleeding. Angry at A B, Y S then injured him with a knife, the court heard.

The two defendants took O D to Saqr Hospital at noon, where he died 30 minutes later.

A B denied a charge of sexually assaulting O D and intentional murder. He admitted stabbing the victim once and taking tramadol with Y S and the victim.

Y S denied he was involved in O D’s murder and assault, and said he hit O D with his hand, not a knife, and took drugs.

Two others, Emirati O A and Pakistani F G, were accused of not informing police about the crime. Prosecutors said O A took A B to a pharmacy to get medicine to treat his injuries because he refused to go to hospital, while F G saw the victim bleeding on a couch.

O A denied prosecutors’ arguments that he tried to hide evidence of the crime, while F G admitted to not informing police, saying he was scared.

A medical report showed the defendants and victim did not have sex but that they took drugs.

The court sentenced A B to life in jail for murdering O D and a year in prison with a Dh10,000 fine for taking drugs.

Y S was jailed for four years and fined Dh10,000 for taking drugs and given two months in prison and a Dh3,000 fine for assaulting A B with a knife.

O A and F G were each fined Dh1,000 for the charges against them.