DUBAI // Four sword-wielding thugs dragged a man into the street from his home and stabbed him in a row over a mobile phone, a court heard today.
They knocked on the front door of the house where the man was staying and waited for him to answer the door before dragging him into the street and stabbing him all over his body, prosecutors told the Criminal Court.
The man's female cousin, AG, 24, heard his screams and rushed outside to see her relative lying on the floor bleeding as one of the men stood above him stabbing him with a sword.
"I panicked and all I could do was run out and drag my cousin inside the house, before I called police," she recalled.
The stabbed man was taken to Rashid Hospital where he was given life-saving surgery. A medical report said he suffered near-fatal stab wounds to the chest, neck, head and arms. He remained in hospital for 11 days.
Prosecutors said the attack took place at about 1am on April 10 this year and that the four men intended to kill their victim.
They said that the gang had fought with their victim two days before the stabbing after he accused the brother of one of them of stealing his phone. The stabbing was a continuation of that feud, said prosecutors.
The Criminal Court charged SK, 32, AA, 19, SA, 33, and MA, 21, all Emiratis, with attempted murder. SK and AA were also charged with trespassing.
All of them pleaded not guilty.
"I didn't go to his house, and I did not try to kill him," said SK, who asked for bail on the grounds he was a student at Zayed University and would soon be doing exams.
The next hearing was scheduled July 17.
salamir@thenational.ae
