DUBAI // An innocent brushing of hands turned a simple ride-along with a friend into a near-death experience, prosecutors have said.
MY, a stateless 20-year-old, was relaxing with his friend JO in Al Muhaisanah on September 10 last year when JO's brother, KO, called to ask for a lift.
JO agreed, and 15 minutes later KO arrived with a friend. All four piled into JO's car and began to drive towards Nad Al Hamar.
But the lift turned lethal when KO told his brother to stop the vehicle, opened MY's door and dragged him from the car before stabbing him repeatedly in the head, stomach, back, right leg and left shoulder, prosecutors said.
One of the cuts to his stomach was so brutal, it left a 17cm-long scar. FS, the friend who was with the men, told prosecutors he saw MY's guts spilling out of his abdomen due to the stabbing.
FS and JO eventually managed to stop KO and took MY to the hospital.
The full reason for the nearly fatal attack was not specified, but MY said in his testimony that seconds before the attack, he had mistakenly brushed hands with KO's friend who was sitting next to him in the back seat of the car.
"I apologised to him but KO didn't take the apology and started screaming at me before he asked his brother to stop the car," said the victim.
Prosecution records show KO was hiding the knife in his underwear when he was arrested.
He was not present in Dubai Criminal Court this morning to face the charge of attempted murder.
The next hearing will be on February 10.
