Man sentenced to three years in Dubai prison for stabbing cousin over unpaid debt

The victim was stabbed three times and forensics report said he was left with a 10 percent permanent disability.

DUBAI // A worker who stabbed his cousin over an unpaid debt, was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday at the Dubai Criminal Court.

The Bangladeshi defendant, MS, 22, denied a charge of attempted murder when he appeared at the court in May.

Prosecutors said the labourer had given his 26-year-old cousin, SJ, Dh11,500 to find him a job and a work visa but he failed to do so.

On the morning of December 9 last year, the MS called SJ and asked to meet outside the victim's workplace in Naif Gold Souq.

When the victim arrived, MS asked him to return the money since he did not fulfil his promise of finding him a job.

"I had informed him that urgent circumstances prevented me from getting him a work visa or finding him a job, but he got furious on that day," said the cousin who said he was surprised to see the defendant take out a knife from a drawer outside the shop, and stab him.

The victim was stabbed three times: in the chest, in the face and on the left hand. He collapsed and the defendant ran away. Bystanders called police and an ambulance.

Emirati Corporal AJ, 30, testified that the defendant was arrested on the day of the incident and that he confessed to stabbing his cousin over a money dispute.

A forensics report said that the victim was left with a 10 percent permanent disability, after losing mobility in two fingers and his left wrist. MS will be deported after completing his prison term.