Troubled son stabs father, detained in Abu Dhabi psychiatric ward

A man attempts to kill his father after he stopped taking medicine for schizophrenia and became paranoid.

ABU DHABI // A 30-year-old man suffering from schizophrenia who attacked his father with a knife has been detained in a psychiatric ward.

He lashed out after he stopped taking his medication, which caused him to become paranoid and feel that he was in danger, police said. As a result, he bought a knife and hid it in his room.

As his condition worsened, he attempted to kill his 61-year-old father with it at the family home in the Khalidiya area of Abu Dhabi, then ran off. The family called the police.

"The victim went to an emergency ward of one of the hospitals to treat the bleeding," said Col Dr Rashid Mohamed Burhsid, director of criminal investigation. "The police confiscated the weapon, looked for the perpetrator and caught him. Then we placed him in a psychiatric ward."

The son confessed to the police that he had tried to kill his father.

His family had taken him to hospital to receive treatment for his schizophrenia, but after his last visit he stopped taking his medication, which caused his condition to get worse.