ABU DHABI // A dispute between two friends as they slaughtered animals for Eid ended with one stabbing the other to settle an argument about the sharpness of his knife, a court heard yesterday.
ZAS, from Pakistan, appeared before the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance charged with attempted murder.
Prosecutors say he tried to kill his friend IS by stabbing him in the stomach. The incident took place on the first day of Eid al Adha as the two were working in a slaughterhouse in the capital.
"He told you your knife was not sharp enough and you stabbed him," Chief Justice Saeed Abdul Baseer told ZAS. "Is that correct?"
ZAS admitted stabbing his friend but insisted he had not intended to kill him. Through a translator, he told the court they were friends who lived in the same place. He had acted in jest, he said, because they were bored.
The court heard ZAS ran away after the stabbing.
The chief justice asked the public prosecutor whether he wanted to substitute a lesser charge, since the two had reconciled. One of the presiding judges also noted that the victim had been stabbed only once, and there was no indication of a serious attempt to murder. The prosecutor declined.
The justices adjourned the case until Sunday, to allow a defence lawyer to be appointed.
[ hhassan@thenational.ae ]
