Carpenter denies murdering man he argued with over mobile phone light

Man allegedly beat sleeping victim with a sharp metal pole after an earlier row about the defendant’s mobile phone light waking the latter up

A 28-year-old carpenter has denied killing a man with a metal bar in a row over a mobile phone torch.

Dubai Criminal Court heard on Wednesday that at about midnight on July 26 the Indian victim was sleeping between a number of parked lorries near labour accommodation in Jebel Ali when the defendant and a friend were passing near him using a mobile flashlight to find one of their Emirates ID cards, which had been lost in the area earlier that night.

The Indian asked them to turn off the torch as he was trying to sleep but he was ignored and the pair continued their search.

“The man became angry, he got up and walked towards the defendant then pushed and insulted him before he snatched the mobile out of his hand and smashed it,” said a policeman.

The friend intervened between the two men and calmed them down then took the defendant away.

“Shortly after the friend left, the defendant returned to the deceased’s place, where he was sleeping on his back and covered with a blanket. He picked up a metal bar, which had a sharp end, and repeatedly hit the man on the neck, head and chest, then left,” added the officer.

The killer returned a few hours later to check on the man’s condition but he saw a number of men surrounding the victim so he returned to his room, police said.

The next morning at about 8am, his friend contacted the defendant to tell him that the man he had a confrontation with the previous night had been found dead.

Workers had found the body and told security guards, who in turn called police.

“We arrested him that same day and found the metal bar he used in the assault nearby,” said the officer, adding that the accused said he never meant to end the man’s life and that he only wanted to teach him a lesson. He did not want any resistance though so returned to beat him when the man was sleeping again.

A medical report said that the victim had been drinking alcohol before his death but he was not drunk. The assault caused fractures to his neck and chest and damaged parts of his left lung and the carotid artery, which caused extensive bleeding.

“When we arrived to check the body, he had been dead for about 7 to 8 hours,” said the Egyptian forensic expert, 47.

In court on Wednesday morning, the Indian defendant denied a premeditated murder charge.

The next hearing will be on November 26.