Carpenter killed roommate over loud singing

A Filipino carpenter allegedly killed his roommate by stabbing him several times following a row over loud singing while having alcoholic drinks in their room in a labour camp, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

RBB, 48, is accused of premeditated killing of Romilto Nir Jila with a knife. He stabbed him several times until he fell down, then sat on him and again stabbed him several times until he died in Abu Hulaiba Contracting Company’s labour camp in Jebel Ali on October 23, 2009.

First Lieutenant Mohammed Ahmad, who checked the scene of the crime with other colleagues on the day of the crime, testified that as he entered Room No. 20 of the labour camp with an ambulance team, the accused was sitting on his bed in the room with the victim on the floor and blood stains everywhere in the room which was in a complete mess.

“The accused was sitting very quietly with his head down and seemed to be drunk. The room was in a complete mess. There were three or four bottles of alcohol with food leftovers. The victim was on the floor and next to him there was a middle-sized knife and a screw driver, both stained with blood. The accused first claimed that a third person who was drinking with them had attacked both him and the victim. He later revised the story and confessed to the crime. The accused confessed that a dispute broke out between them and so he stabbed him,” he testified.

First Sergeant Abdul Hamid Nasser repeated the same testimony and said that a third person who was drinking with them left the room as a row broke out between the accused and the victim. The accused confessed that the victim was annoying him and had switched on the TV and started singing loudly and dancing. He tried to stop him but the victim did not listen and hurt him with a screwdriver in his possession. The accused in turn took a knife and stabbed the victim more than two times, threw the knife on the floor and sat on the bed, the accused confessed to the policeman.

The third person, who was in the room drinking with the victim and the accused, told the police that he left the room as the two had started fighting.

The forensic report said the victim had died because of fatal stabs in the chest and neck and that he had a high level of alcohol in his blood. The accused was also reported drunk with an alcohol level of 87mg/dl. The accused premeditatedly killed the victim but claimed that it was in self-defence, the forensic report said.

The court adjourned the case to February 2.
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.