DUBAI // A drunk nurse who stabbed his friend to death with a potato peeler had his five-year jail term upheld by the Appeals Court yesterday.
O J, 39, from the Philippines, was arrested at the Dubai International Airport trying to flee the country four hours after the murder.
“I didn’t mean to kill him, it happened by accident when I was drunk,” he claimed at his original trial last March.
The court heard that on October 3 last year he had been at a dinner party in Muraqqabat with two men and a woman when a fight broke out.
“We all arrived at nearly 9pm and about four hours later an argument erupted between the two,” recalled J M, also from the Philippines.
O J grabbed a potato peeler and stabbed his victim, Lodeveco Jer Navas, three times in the chest. Navas did not die on the spot, instead he walked to the sixth floor of the same building where his flat is located and collapsed in front of his door.
One of the other guests went to check on Navas and called police after finding him unconscious. Navas was rushed to hospital but was dead on arrival.
Court records did not make clear the cause of the fight.
Police arrested the killer at the airport as he tried to board a flight to the Philippines.
In court he denied a charge of premeditated murder but was found guilty. He admitted a charge of illegally consuming alcohol.
After serving his five-year jail term he will be deported.
salamir@thenational.ae
