DUBAI // A restaurant cleaner has been accused of stabbing a co-worker with a shawarma knife in a row over whose turn it was to clean the dumbwaiter.
SM, a 29-year-old Indian, slashed BF, a 28-year-old Filipino, the Dubai Misdemeanours Court heard yesterday.
The pair had been living and working together at the Layali Shiraz Iranian restaurant in Deira since 2010.
The restaurant's Bangladeshi sous chef, MS, 30, told prosecutors that an argument broke out between the men at noon on June 17 last year.
"BF told SM to clean the lift that carries the food between floors and SM refused," he said. "We then heard them start screaming at each other but we cooled them down and split them apart and they went on with their duties."
At 4.30pm on the same day, BF was cleaning the floors when he sloshed water on SM's feet. BF told prosecutors that SM became angry.
"He picked up a plate and said he would break it over my head but it fell and broke on the floor," he said. "He then started screaming insults at me in his language, which I understood to mean 'little boy', before he grabbed the knife and attacked me."
SM denies assault leading to injury. The case was adjourned until January 29, when SM's defence will be presented.
amustafa@thenational.ae
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.