Dubai visitor 'stabs compatriot to death after fight at brothel'

A 54-year-old Chinese man stabbed a compatriot to death with a kitchen knife following a verbal brawl at a flat in Dubai, a court has heard. It later emerged that the flat was being used as a prostitution den.

The defendant, who was in the country on a visit visa, allegedly stabbed the victim several times.

Apart from him, 14 others aged between 24 and 55, are standing trial in the same case.

A 41-year-old Chinese, also a Dubai visitor, was charged along with seven compatriot women with running the flat as a brothel and facilitating prostitution. The 41-year-old accused and another compatriot, 51, are accused of trying to hide the victim's body. The seven women, aged between 24 and 38, are also charged with working in prostitution. The 14 defendants have been charged with failing to report the crime to the police.

The case dates back to June 27 and was registered at Naif police station.

An Indian businessman, 54, said he took his family to dinner in Jumeirah. "When we came back to our flat in Meydan Bani Yas, we saw several Chinese women walking out of a flat on our floor and looking terrified."

The witness recounted how he suspected there was something wrong. "I told my family to go inside our flat while I remained in the hallway. I spotted many men walking out of that apartment with blood on their hands. They all went down using the stairs. I tried to ask them what the problem was, but they claimed it was a normal fight."

The witness then called his daughter and told her to call the police.

He told the prosecutor he saw one of the defendants come back pulling a cart. "I heard the sound of a duct tape coming out from that flat. That same man then left. The police arrived shortly later."

The witness identified the men he saw on the incident day later at the police station.

A police lieutenant said: "We set up a task force to probe the crime and tracked the main defendant down shortly later. The flat was sub-leased to the 41-year-old accused. The latter was caught at the Dubai International Airport while trying to flee. He admitted he had been running the flat as a prostitution den.

"On the incident day, several men, including the victim and the main defendant, came for sex," the officer said.

The lieutenant quoted the 41-year-old defendant as saying that as he was in the kitchen he heard the two men quarreling.

"The 41-year-old accused stepped in to break the fight after seeing the victim tossing a glass bottle on the main suspect. The latter then fetched a knife from the kitchen and stabbed the other man multiple times. The other people got scared and left."

The trial has been adjourned to October 31.

mary@khaleejtimes.com