DUBAI // An Egyptian cook stabbed one of his flatmates to death and seriously injured another after claiming they had raped him while he was sleeping.
The cook, 26, was yesterday sentenced to life in prison by Dubai Criminal Court for the premeditated murder of the Jordanian and the attempted murder of another Egyptian.
At 5.30am on September 16, 2015, he stabbed the Jordanian in the neck and abdomen with a kitchen knife, before stabbing the other man in the chest and abdomen at the flat they shared in Al Barsha.
An Indian man who also lived in the flat told the court he heard screams and when he turned on the lights, he saw one of the men bleeding from the neck.
“He then fell unconscious so I called police right away,” said the witness.
Officers found the victim’s body in the flat while the second man was found bleeding heavily in a flat next door.
He was taken to hospital and had emergency surgery. He later said that on the night before the murder, he saw the cook on the victim’s bed playing with the man’s phone.
“At dawn, the lights were off and suddenly I heard the deceased talking to the defendant asking him, ‘Why? Why?’ Then as I got up to check what was going on, he attacked me with a knife,” he said.
Tenants living next door said they were shocked when the injured man entered their home.
“We wanted to call for an ambulance but none of us could remember the number and we didn’t talk to the injured person at all,” said one of the men.
The cook, who was arrested the same day, said he stabbed his flatmates because he overheard them saying that they had raped him during his sleep and he never found out.
He will be deported after serving his jail term. The sentenced is subject to appeal within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae
