Nurse assaults friend to death after partying in Dubai

A nurse, who allegedly assaulted a friend and unintentionally caused his death after a night of drinking out, was charged at a Dubai court on Monday.

Prosecutors accused the 28-year-old Filipino man of being drunk when he pushed the victim following a verbal brawl. This caused him to fall down and his head hit the pavement. The victim died shortly later because of severe internal brain haemorrhage. The nurse denied the charge at the Court of First Instance. 

The incident that took place on August 10 was reported at the Bur Dubai police station.

The defendant said during the public prosecution investigation that the victim was his friend.

"We had been drinking alcohol at a house in Al Jaffliah. It was already half past midnight when we left the house. We then had a fight as I wanted to go home and he did not."

Their brawl soon turned physical. "Some Pakistani men stepped in to stop the fight and I left the scene. I came back about half an hour later to check on my friend and I found him dead," the nurse told the investigators.

When the police arrived at the crime scene, the nurse claimed the Pakistani men chased them and assaulted his friend to death.

A forensic expert said he was called in to the crime scene in a parking lot in Al Satwa. "The victim was lying on his back with apparent bruises on his knees. The body was then shifted to the forensic medicine department."

The expert spotted bruises on the victim's neck, back of the head, heels, knees and upper chest. "He suffered severe internal brain bleeding. The victim was then under the influence of alcohol."

A police lieutenant said the defendant told them two different stories on the night of the incident. "At first, he claimed his friend was assaulted by Pakistani men. He later revealed they had being consuming liquor and had performed sex acts on two men. They later had a fight as one of them wanted to meet more men while the other wanted to go home."

A Pakistani worker, 25, made the call to the police. "I saw a person on the ground in a parking lot. I noticed he was not moving. A Filipino man then came and was checking him for pulse, but I told him to wait for the police."

The nurse was also referred to the Court of Misdemeanours on charges of consuming alcohol without a licence, making a false police report, and having sex with a male.

The trial continues on November 29.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

Marie Nammour

Originally from Lebanon, Marie has been covering the Dubai Courts and the Public Prosecution, immigration and labour issues often, Lebanese community-related affairs and the Dubai International Film Festival. A graduate from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, a city to the north of Beirut, Marie worked as an in-house reporter, covering international affairs for the LBCI and the LBC Sat (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International), a leading TV station back home and a legal translator for Sagesse, a renowned law college in the heart of the Lebanese capital. Marie speaks fluently Arabic, French, English and Spanish. She is fond of travelling, psychology, learning more and of the French literature.