Man stabbed to death in Dubai over a car

A 37-year-old man went on trial on Thursday at the Dubai Court of First Instance on the charge of fatally stabbing a compatriot.

Public prosecution records show that on August 23 the Emirati man stabbed the victim in his left arm, cutting a vital vein which led to his death. The case was registered at the Al Qusais police station.

The defendant, who has a criminal record, is detained.

According to the forensic report, the victim's cause of death was a heart and blood circulation failure. He suffered severe bleeding due to the deep stabbing that cut into his veins, blood vessels and nerves and into his bones.

A police lieutenant said they arrested the defendant and his friend at 5am on August 24 in Ras Al Khaimah. "We received the stabbing report around 1am the day before. We moved to the villa where it happened and found the victim lying in a pool of blood outside. A man and a woman, who witnessed the incident, were there."

The lieutenant added that the villa's surveillance cameras were then not working. The cameras of the neighbors' villas did not capture the incident. "By the time I reached the hospital, the victim had already died."

An Emirati man, who witnessed the incident, said: "Around midnight on August 23, I went with the victim to the defendant's villa. The latter and his friend came outside to meet us."

Soon after, the witness saw the defendant chasing the victim while holding a knife. "I heard him yelling at him. He was upset because the victim told his half-brother that his car was parked outside the defendant's house."

The victim then got in the driver seat of his car. He tried to start the car but the accused followed him there through the right back door and stabbed him.

The defendant fled the scene in his car with his friend right after that.

"We (the victim and I) had gone to the defendant's villa before. We would meet the defendant in the yard. I believe the accused and his friend were high on drugs. I am not aware of any previous disputes between the accused and the victim," the witness told the prosecutor.

He added that the defendant was driving a car which belonged to the victim's half-brother. "The car's owner had been looking for it for four days. The accused took it from the owner and did not give it back."

A woman told the prosecution investigator that she saw the other witness trying to get the defendant away from the victim and stop him from further stabbing him.

The defendant will be sentenced on December 26.