Sentence doubled for man who caused death of colleague in fight over mobile phone light

DUBAI // A labourer who was sentenced to jail for causing the death of his roommate when he pushed him off a bed during a fight has had his sentence doubled.

At the Dubai Criminal Court in July Pakistani N G, 44, was sent to jail for six months for causing the death of fellow labourer Hadramout Khan.

But at the Dubai Court of Appeal on Tuesday, that sentence was increased to a year.

On September 4 last year N G had started to fight Khan because the light on his mobile phone was keeping his countryman awake.

“The man’s death was fate,” he said in court.

During the fight, N G pushed Khan off the bed. Khan then later started complaining about his chest and his inability to breath properly.

“It was 8.30pm when a fellow worker came to me and told me that Khan was not feeling well. He asked me to hurry. I called him by his name but he couldn’t answer me,” said K K, 54, who is also Pakistani.

K K went to get dressed to take Khan to hospital but, by the time he returned, the man was dead.

Police were called to the labour accommodation in Al Qouz and found Khan lying dead on his bed.

“We suspected the death wasn’t from natural causes because we saw bruises on the man’s neck and bleeding from the nose,” said Emirati lieutenant A A, 26.

“One of the workers said he heard strange sounds from Khan’s room and opened the door to find the room dark. He switched on the lights and saw N G. The worker asked him what was wrong with Khan and N G told him he beat him up but didn’t say why.”

The forensics report said that Khan was so agitated by the fight that he had a fatal heart attack.

N G will be deported after finishing his sentence.