Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter
A labourer strangled an innocent elderly workmate to death so he could spend years in jail and avoid returning to his homeland, a jury heard on Thursday.
The Asian defendant, 27, was afraid of returning to his home country because someone had stealthily video-recorded him while he was naked and sent the video to his brother there.
An idea to kill and find an abode in jail flashed in his mind.
He chose an Indian worker since he was too old to fight back. He waited for the worker to fall asleep inside their shared room at a construction site in Nad Al Hamar.
When it was resting time at around 1:30pm on Feb.26 the worker entered and fell in deep asleep with his scarf around his neck. The defendant pounced on him, clutched him to the bed with a knee and used the scarf to strangle him to death.
The worker sustained fatal injuries and passed on inside an ambulance that was rushing him to hospital. Prosecutors referred the defendant to the Dubai Criminal Court demanding a severe punishment. The hearing continues on May 13.