A 26-year-old man facing attempted murder charges avoided punishment when he died in a traffic accident, a court heard on Monday.
The Emirati man was charged along with two others - a 22-year-old Sudanese man and an Emirati, 24 - with attempting to kill a military officer and his friend with swords.
Dubai Criminal Court was told that on March 13, 2015, the Emirati victim and his Omani friend, whose ages were not given, were driving at 1am on Beirut Street in Al Qusais, Dubai, when they spotted smoke coming from a nearby vehicle and thought it was on fire.
“I tried to alert the defendants to the smoke when we stopped at the traffic lights but one of them told me that it’s not my business,” said the military officer.
The defendants then followed them then signalled for them to stop, he added.
“When we got out of the car, the defendants attacked us with swords. I was injured and my friend ran away but he was chased by two of the attackers, who shortly returned after failing to catch up with my friend, and all joined in attacking me with swords,” said the victim, who was hit on the head and shoulder.
“I heard one of them tell the others that he wanted to cut my head off.”
Thankfully, the officer managed to run away.
“I think they were high on drugs and drunk because they couldn't catch me when I ran away but I heard one ordering me to stop or he would chop my head off once he catches me,” he said.
In court, the defendants were faced with two counts of attempted murder, and with damaging property after allegedly smashing the windscreen of the victim’s car using their swords.
The Omani victim testified that he returned to his military officer friend when he saw from his hiding place that the attackers had fled.
“He was bleeding heavily. I called for an ambulance and reported the incident to police,” he said.
The court dismissed charges against the 26-year-old defendant after receiving his death certificate. The 24-year-old defendant was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail, while the Sudanese defendant was found not guilty of all charges.