Herder has jail term cut from a decade to a year for killing compatriot in Dubai

The Sudanese man stabbed his compatriot in the heart and stomach but had his sentence reduced from 10 years to one.

DUBAI // A herder sentenced to 10 years for killing his compatriot over a camel sale has had his jail term reduced to just one year.

S A, a 24-year-old from Sudan, confessed that he killed Mohammed Abbas Babikir by stabbing him twice, in the heart and stomach, but his sentence was reduced after the victim’s family waived their rights.

The family submitted a formal document declaring that they waived their rights at a previous hearing and Dubai Criminal Court, taking this into consideration, reduced the man’s sentence on Wednesday.

UAE laws permit the court to reduce the sentence if the family waive their rights.

The herder confessed to the stabbing, which occurred over the split in profits over a camel sale, but he denied that the killing had been premeditated.

He testified during the trial: “We had an argument about the division of the profits in a camel sale.”

Another Sudanese herder, M B, 26, saw the argument escalating from afar and, once it got physical, ran towards the pair to break it up.

When he arrived at the scene, however, Babikir was already on the ground, bleeding and holding his stomach, while S A stood by holding a knife covered in blood.

M B said in court: “I laid his head on a rock and saw him spit out blood and take his last breaths.”

S A will be deported after completing his reduced prison term.