ABU DHABI // Two men accused of the manslaughter of their neighbour as a result of placing pest-control substances in an apartment adjacent to hers have been found not guilty of the crime by the Federal Supreme Court.
The pair were accused by prosecutors in Sharjah of causing the death of a woman, H H, who died after they placed containers of pesticides in the nearby apartment. They were also charged with causing another man living in the same apartment to become physically unwell. Medical reports suggested he had been poisoned.
In March 2013 the Sharjah Criminal Court cleared them of the charges. Public prosecution appealed, but the acquittal was upheld. Public prosecution then referred the verdict for cassation to the Supreme Court, arguing that the previous verdict did not consider all of the information in the case files, which they argued showed the actions of the defendants caused the poisoning of the victims.
It was argued that the men had been negligent and careless when they carried out cleaning services for a building without a licence. The Supreme Court replied that to penalise someone for manslaughter or causing unintended injury, it should be proven that a personal mistake was committed by the defendant, which caused the damage.
The court also compared prosecution and defence evidence and found the defence evidence stronger, which cast doubt on the components of the charges.
The defendants denied culpability throughout investigations and the trial, and prosecution evidence was said to be based on probability. Also, none of the medical reports confirmed that H H’s death or the man’s injury had been caused by poisonous gases and no effects of the gas were found.
hdajani@thenational.ae
