Man who hacked friend to death with sword has insanity plea rejected

Man is given life imprisonment at Dubai Criminal Court

A drug-fuelled attacker who hacked a friend to death with a sword has been sentenced to life in prison after his insanity plea was rejected in court.

The 23-year-old Emirati's savage attack was witnessed by a police officer on his way home, Dubai Criminal Court was told.

The court heard the defendant had lured his friend - an Emirati whose age was not disclosed in records - to a dark alley in Al Qusais, Dubai, before attacking him a sword he was hiding under his clothing.

The assailant fled the scene after seeing the police officer approaching, but handed himself a matter of hours later.

The incident took place at about 11.30pm on January 22 of this year.

When he appeared in court on a murder charge in March, he insisted he did not remember carrying out the fatal assault and made an insanity defence.

A medical report was requested by the report, which found the defendant was in control of his actions at the time of the incident.

“When his friend arrived, he attacked him with the sword,” said the Emirati policeman who witnessed the incident.

The victim died while being transported to hospital.

The court heard that the defendant was under the influence of crystal meth when he surrendered to police.

“He walked into Al Qusais police station with blood stains on his clothes, and didn’t look normal,” said an Emirati lieutenant who was the officer-in-charge on duty at the station that day.

Police later found a bloodstained sword stashed in a bush near the murder scene.

The weapon was found to have traces of the defendant's DNA on it, as well as blood belonging to the victim.

The motive for the murder was not established.

The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment, a term of 25 years.