Labourer attacked boss with cleaver after being denied pay rise, Dubai court told

The Bangladeshi blacksmith blamed the supervisor for deciding not to award him a pay hike so attacked him with a cleaver as he got out the shower in their labour camp.

DUBAI // A blacksmith tried to kill the company supervisor who he blamed for denying him a pay rise, the Criminal Court has heard.

F K, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi, did not enter a plea for the attempted murder charge because of a lack of a translator.

Prosecutors said that on February 11 this year, a number of other workers at F K’s company received a raise.

The defendant thought his victim, M M, was responsible for deciding whether workers were granted this extra money or not.

“He blamed me for not getting the hike, although I’m not his supervisor and I’m not the one responsible for his appraisal to decide whether he got the pay rise or not,” said M M, also a Bangladeshi.

“There is another supervisor who did this, not me. F K was not among the workers I evaluated.”

M M added that he heard F K’s wife had recently left him because of financial problems.

Proescutors said that M M and the defendant had been working for the same company for seven years. M M had been promoted while the defendant remained in his position as a blacksmith.

On the day of the incident, F K was heard complaining to his fellow workers about his low salary and how he felt M M was to blame.

Later that day, M M had just finished showering at the labour camp where they lived when F K struck him in his side with a cleaver.

“Some colleagues rushed to my aid but he waved the cleaver at them so they could not help me. He then caught up with me and tried to strike me on the head but I raised my arm and was injured in the arm instead,” M M said.

Wearing only a towel, he ran into one of the bedrooms and fell to the ground, but the defendant followed him inside and struck him with more blows.

M M managed to escape, but his towel fell off and he ran naked into another room where the resident, A A, locked the door the moment M M entered.

“After M M came into my room, I watched from the peephole what was going on outside and I saw that the other labourers manage to control F K then call the police,” A A said.

M M was hit 10 times, on his waist, back, legs and arms. He needed three operations to save his life and remained in hospital for 11 days.

The next hearing will be on May 4.