DUBAI// A soldier and a student dumped the body of a friend who had overdosed on heroin on the pavement outside a hospital before fleeing, a court heard.
The 18-year-old Emirati serviceman and his Sudanese friend, 32, denied a charge of facilitating heroin consumption to the Emirati who died on March 6 this year.
However, the soldier admitted consuming painkiller tramadol and his friend denied consuming morphine at Dubai Criminal Court.
Their friend’s body was left outside of Welcare hospital in Dubaiearly that morning.
“We were patrolling the area when we were ordered to head to the hospital. Once we arrived, we saw the body on the pavement,” said a 26-year-old police officer, who added that the hospital’s security guards told him a man came into the hospital, informed staff about the dead body and then left.
“They also said the man came in a car that had stopped in the car park, so we headed there and saw the man as identified by guards,” the officer said.
The Sudanese student was arrested in a supermarket close to the hospital.
“When it came to his arrest, he started saying that he didn’t do anything and refused to get into the patrol car,” said the officer.
A verdict is expected on August 18.
salamir@thenational.ae
