Builder slays friends visitor in drunken fight

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

An inebriated builder who slayed his roommate’s visitor for shoving clothes over the balcony during an alcohol abuse binge lost a mercy plea on Wednesday.

The Asian builder, 37, repeatedly knifed the Indian man, 40s, at a manpower supply company’s workers barracks in Muhaisnah around 1:30am on Mar.30 last year, prosecutors revealed.

In court, he contended, “We were both drunk. He started beating me. I beat him in self-defence without intending to kill him.” The Criminal Court jailed him for five years to be followed by deportation.

He appealed seeking a lenient punishment. Prosecutors demanded he be handed the toughest punishment applicable for the murder. However, the Dubai Appeals Court upheld the earlier verdict.

On the record, the roommate was preparing to return to his homeland. The victim and a colleague arrived to bid him farewell. They sat with others at the room’s balcony and embarked on alcohol abuse.

Meanwhile, the victim received a phone call. He spoke loudly over the phone prompting the builder to loathe him. The victim shoved clothes over to the street in what the colleague said was a joke.

The builder confronted him. A heated argument erupted. The victim yelled obscenities targeting the builder’s mother and family. The builder returned insult for insult after which he entered the room.

The victim pursued him. They continued shouting and trading insults. The builder pulled out a knife from under his bed and approached. The victim picked a cooking spoon and smacked him on the head.

The builder stabbed him thrice then repeatedly kicked his face and neck. He dashed out of the room with the knife under his clothes and stashed it behind a washroom’s washbasin at the ground floor.

The Indian roommate, 27, said, “That day the victim and the builder consumed alcohol. The victim shoved clothes. He and the builder insulted each other. The builder slammed the balcony door and left.

“This angered the victim. He pursued the builder who was about to walk out of the room. The builder knifed him. I later heard the builder arguing that he knifed him for having insulted his mother.”

An Emirati lieutenant said he found the victim’s body lying face up behind the door with the spoon beside it. An Iranian policeman said the builder upon arrest admitted and argued, “He insulted my mother.”

Two workers revealed the builder after the knife attack first walked out of the room then returned and found the victim groaning. He kicked him several times while insulting him then walked out.