Man gets 15-year jail for compatriot murder

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance has sentenced an Egyptian driver to 15 years in jail for premeditatedly killing his compatriot roommate followed by deportation.

SHZ, 33, a driver, stabbed his roommate 11 times over Dh3,000 rent.

During the hearings, the accused denied the accusation and claimed that he was defending himself. He asked the court to refer him to a psychiatrist as he claimed he stabbed his friend under an abnormal nervous situation. The Court did not respond to his request and Presiding Judge Hamad Abdullatif told the accused SHZ, that "there is nothing wrong with you... you have answered all the questions in a balanced way."

The Dubai Prosecution has field a premeditated murder charge against SHZ who killed his compatriot with a small knife in the car while they were on their way to Jebel Ali Police station to solve a dispute of Dh3,000.

SHZ offered the victim to share with him the room he is staying in, but the later failed to pay him the agreed upon rent.

The accused denied in a previous hearing premeditated murder accusation claiming that he stabbed the victim in defence as the later had first attempted to stab him while driving and injured his hand. And in retaliation, he stabbed in his back without intending to kill him.

Captain Ahmad Ramadan, policeman, testified before the court in the previous hearing that he did not see any injury in the accused at the time of arrest.

Ramadan testified on December 17, 2009 he was rushed by his senior to Sheikh Zayed Road near Mall of the Emirates as there was a fight between the two.

Upon arriving there, he learned from other officers who were before him at the scene that it is a murder case. Ramadan saw a man stabbed to death in the front right seat of a car and the accused was in a police patrol.

Asking the accused about what happened, the later told the policeman that he and the victim Dia Salah Taha, had a fight while he was driving the car and the later attempted to stab him so he stopped the car and took a knife that was in the car and stabbed him.

When asked by the Jury presided by Judge Hamad Abdullatif whether the accused sustained any injury, Ramadan answered negatively, "No, I did not see any injury."

Ramadan also told the court that the claimed broken knife was not found at the crime scene.

According to the forensic medicine report the victim received 11 stabs seven of which were deep and caused internal bleeding and tear of lungs tissue. The forensic report said that two stabs were enough to cause death. The report said that the injury in the accused’s figure could have happened when he was stabbing the victim.

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