Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A woman who knifed a masseuse during a wrangle over a boyfriend won a lenient punishment at the Dubai Appeals Court on Wednesday.

The Asian worker, 30, prepared a knife and summoned the Indian masseuse, 33, for a meeting to find an amicable solution to their misunderstanding last year, prosecutors told the Dubai Criminal Court on April 8.

She thrust a knife towards her stomach. The masseuse warded off the attack with her left arm and sustained an injury. She tried to stab again. The masseuse seized the knife’s blade and sustained finger cuts.

The defendant told prosecutors she was planning to commit suicide after killing the masseuse. The court jailed her for three years plus deportation. The Dubai Appeals Court slashed two years from the jail term.

In prosecution records, the defendant contacted the masseuse and introduced herself as the man’s girlfriend. She demanded the masseuse to stop going out with him, talking to him and even coming close to him.

“She claimed my relationship with him was the reason he changed towards her. She requested me to meet and mend things. I contacted him. He told me he broke up with her because she caused him problems.

“I offered to escort him to meet her and find a solution to their problem. We met her at the Dubai Water Canal the next day. They disputed. He told her he no longer wanted her because she had another boyfriend.

“They shouted at each other until I told them I was leaving. She asked for transport. We gave her Dhs90 for a taxi. The next day she insisted she had to meet me. We met outside my workplace at a hotel around 6:30pm.

“She started asking me what to do to win back his heart. I kept telling her I had no solution. She told me she had financial problems. I told her the discussion was taking long. She pulled out a knife from her purse.

“She thrust towards my stomach. I placed my left arm. She thrust again. I seized the blade and shouted for help. She covered my mouth with her left hand to stop me. I bit her finger and she pulled the hand away.”

The masseuse remained seizing the blade as the defendant struggled to pull it from her. Passersby intervened to keep the defendant at bay. She dropped the knife. The masseuse was taken to hospital.

A forensic report showed she had a left arm injury. During police questioning the defendant said, “I was going to use the same knife to end my life.” Police seized the blood-stained knife at the crime scene.