DUBAI // A policeman whose life sentence in prison was upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeal for shooting and killing a fellow officer will appear before the Court of Cassation on July 3 for the last chance before the sentence becomes final.
The Yemeni patrol sergeant, 26, claimed he shot the victim, 53, because he had been sexually assaulted by him.
On November 8, 2015 the killer started his shift and went to pick up his gun, bullets and handcuffs from his colleague, who worked as an armoury officer at Al Raffa Police Station. He then fired his gun three times at the victim’s head, killing him instantly after which he surrendered himself to the police station’s commanding officer.
A 51-year-old officer testified that he saw the killer standing behind the victim and saying: "When you and that other man came to my residence, what did you do to me?"
"I didn’t think it was serious, I thought they were joking," the witness said.
The killer wanted legal action taken against him, said the commander, adding that he handed him his weapon willingly.
“I asked him why had he shot his colleague, he replied that the victim and another man had sexually assaulted him 15 days earlier,” said the commander.
He told the commander that the armoury officer had gagged him with a cloth with some chemical on it, which made him lose consciousness and when he woke up, he figured out that he had been raped.
A medical examination concluded that the defendant was sane and responsible for his actions but found that he suffered from paranoia after being raped in 2008.
If the sentence is upheld it will become final and the officer will have to serve 25 years in prison then be deported.
salamir@thenational.ae
