Psychiatric test for man appealing seven-year sentence for Dubai knife attack

Man stabbed colleague multiple times in face, neck and torso after losing his job.

DUBAI // A man who is appealing against his seven-year sentence for trying to kill a colleague was sent for a psychiatric assessment by the Court of Appeal yesterday.

Indian N F, 39, stabbed fellow countryman S O more than five times but at Dubai Criminal Court last September, he denied attempted murder, claiming he had been ill and had not even seen the victim.

Records showed that N F walked into the victim’s room on October 23, 2012, and stabbed him in the neck with a kitchen knife as he slept. The 34-year-old woke up and tried to escape as N F continued to stab him in the face, chest, back and arms.

The victim said in court that he ran out of his room to the corridor and collapsed unconscious. He woke up five days later. The men had had a history of rowing and had been sacked from work on the day of the incident.

Police corporal W N, 25, testified that he had been called to labour accommodation in Al Quoz on the day of the incident.

“The workers told me about N F being in the victim’s room, so I tried to open the door but it was locked,” he said. “I heard the voice of a man inside so I then forced the door open to see him sitting on the bed and holding a knife in his hand. He said he stabbed the victim because he insulted him,” said W N.

N F was referred to Rashid Hospital for doctors to assess his mental state.