DUBAI // A human trafficker who threw a man off a third-floor balcony, leaving him paralysed, has been sentenced to life in prison.
MA, 41, from Bangladesh, lured KK, 30, holding a Comoros Islands passport, to an apartment before pepper spraying him and assaulting him with a wooden bar before throwing him from the balcony.
The Bangladeshi planned the attack as revenge after the Comoros Islander helped police arrest a fellow member of his human trafficking gang.
He called the Comoros Islander and arranged to meet at the apartment in Al Rafaa on October 25, 2011.
“I thought he was facing a problem with someone from my nationality – I often receive such requests and help solve the problems, so I went to see him,” said the Comoros Islander.
He took a taxi to the apartment building and when he entered the flat three Bangladeshi men assaulted him.
“I managed to struggle free but when I tried to get out of the flat, its door was locked,” recalled the Comoros Islander.
He said that four men then burst out of the apartment’s bathroom and one of them – MA – pepper sprayed him before striking him down with a wooden bar.
“I fainted and when I woke up I was in hospital, where I was told I had been thrown from the flat’s balcony and was paralysed as a result.”
The Bangladeshi was arrested in Hor Al Anz.
At his trial his landlord testified that he suspected that the Bangladeshi was pimping out prostitutes from the apartment and that he had often warned him against doing so.
The Criminal Court found him guilty on a charge of attempted murder. He will be deported after completing his jail term.
The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae