Dubai court upholds life sentence for mechanic who stabbed employer to death

Man locked garage doors and attacked his boss in the office after dispute over a planned holiday

The Dubai Appeal Court upheld a life sentence imposed on a mechanic who murdered his employer. Photo: The National

A mechanic, 23, convicted of killing his employer in a sustained attack prompted by a row over time off work, has lost an appeal against his life sentence.

The man from Kyrgyzstan was found guilty of premeditated murder by the Dubai Criminal Court in April 2021 after hitting the victim several times with a hammer before stabbing him repeatedly in the neck.

The court heard the mechanic worked at a car repair shop in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai at the time of the incident.

A dispute broke out with his boss over the date of his flight back home for a holiday.

On June 13, 2020, he waited for his co-workers to take a break and leave the garage before he locked the front door of the premises.

He entered his employer's office armed with a knife and a hammer and carried out the brutal assault.

He left both weapons at the scene and walked out of the office.

Other workers discovered the victim's body and called the police.

Officers traced the offender to an address near to his country’s embassy in Dubai and arrested him.

“He admitted the murder and said he was heading to the embassy to ask them for help to leave the country,” a police officer said in court evidence.

A medical report said the victim died of multiple head injuries and stab wounds.

The attacker admitted to charges of carrying out a premeditated murder.

The Dubai Appeal Court upheld the verdict of the lower court, meaning the man will serve a life sentence, equivalent to 25 years, before being deported from the country.