A worker who stabbed his countryman to death during a Christmas party will see out his life sentence.
On December 25, 2016, the Sri Lankan defendant, 36, was having a party at his home in Al Muraqqabat with his wife, brothers and a number of his compatriots.
At nearly 11pm, the victim – who used to live with the defendant – arrived to the party and began screaming at the defendant.
The defendant's brother, 35, said "he used bad language which provoked my brother who went to the kitchen and returned carrying a knife before trying to attack the man but I restrained him."
The brother said he thought the incident was over after the victim left but then his wife then ran up to him and told him that the defendant stabbed the victim outside the flat.
"A woman who was sitting next to the body told us what happened and gave us the stabber's name and said that he had fled," said the policeman, 40.
Two days later, the defendant walked into Al Murraqabat police station and turned himself in.
_______________
Read more:
Stabbing at Christmas party in Dubai earns killer life in jail
Man who disrupted Christmas party in Dubai ended up stabbed to death
_______________
"He told us that he had previously fought with the victim because the latter broke into his room and stole cash from him, and on the night of the incident when the victim arrived and started insulting him, they engaged in a fight and he stabbed him," the policeman said.
The defendant told prosecutors during questioning that he hid in Sharjah for two days but decided to turn himself in after he realised there was no way out of the country.
A medical report showed that the victim, whose age was not disclosed in records, died after a single stab to the heart.
"He attacked me first and I was acting in self-defence," said the defendant, who denied a premeditated murder charge in both criminal and appeal courts. But he admitted to consuming alcohol.
In December last year at Dubai Criminal Court, he was sentenced to life in prison to be followed by deportation.
On Sunday, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentence against him.
