A man who killed his co-worker by smashing his head in was granted early release by Dubai Criminal Court this week.
On June 2, 2001, the Indian convict - who was 34 at the time - and the 35-year-old Indian victim were arguing at an under-construction villa when the victim allegedly used obscene language to insult the killer’s mother, wife and sister.
The defendant told police and prosecutors that he was still angered by the man’s comments so decided to wait until he slept to kill him.
The killer donned gloves and used a heavy object from the house to smash the victim’s head. He then threw him from the window of the second floor of the villa in Al Barsha to make it appear as through the man fell or jumped to his death.
Workers discovered the victim’s body the following morning. “He was in a pool of blood, so we immediately called the supervising engineer and returned to the accommodation,” said an Indian worker, 27.
The engineer arrived at the villa at 7.30am and called police.
The worker and three of his colleagues told the court that the victim and killer were on good terms but had argued over cooking duties a few days before the incident. They said the men had been cooking for each other but afterwards began cooking separately.
The man was sentenced to death at Dubai Criminal Court but the Appeals court overturned it, giving him life in prison followed by deportation instead. The lesser sentence was upheld by the Cessation court.
A year into his prison sentence, the inmate converted to Islam and on June 2, 2016 he had spent 15 years in jail, during which he did not commit any offences.
The man, now 49, filed a request for early release to Dubai Public Prosecution.
"Because he showed remorse and desire to change to the best, and also to encourage other inmates sentenced to life to take his example, I recommend that you look into his early release request which was granted to him as per article 45 of the law number 43 for the year 1992," said the official letter addressed to Dubai public prosecution from the General Department of Punitive and Correctional Establishments.
On Monday, Dubai Criminal Court accepted his request and ordered his deportation.