Appeal over cleaner who tried to kill man having affair with his wife is rejected

DUBAI // Prosecutors lost their appeal seeking a harsher sentence against a Bangladeshi cleaner who tried to kill a compatriot after finding out the man was having an affair with his wife.

The defendant denied an attempted murder charge at Dubai Criminal and Appeal Courts, but will spend three years in jail after he was found guilty by both courts.

The 42-year-old stabbed his victim twice with a kitchen knife then had to be restrained to prevent him from stabbing the victim again.

The incident happened in Al Rafaa on August 31 last year. The attacker was arrested ­after witnesses called police. He was found with bloodstains on his shirt.

"The bloodstains were visible and it was obvious he had tried to wash the blood off but failed," a 29-year-old Emirati police officer said.

When the defendant learnt about the affair, he hid the knife behind his back and then confronted the victim before stabbing him.

The victim, whose age was not mentioned in court records, suffered internal bleeding after the knife pierced his liver. He was taken to Rashid Hospital were he was kept under observation for three weeks.

A criminal laboratory report found that the blood on the defendant’s shirt matched that of the victim.

The cleaner will be deported after the completion of his sentence.