An Arab student who punched a man to death after a disagreement at a luxury Dubai hotel last summer has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Prominent Indian businessman Mahendran Yadav, who was managing director of Emirates Homes Real Estate Brokers, was killed when he was punched twice in the head by the 22-year-old Emirati in August last year.
Arabian Business revealed at the time that Yadav was chatting with a group of friends in the shisha lounge of the One&Only Royal Mirage shortly before the alleged attack.
It was claimed that just before midnight, Yadav became embroiled in a dispute with other guests when he started taking mobile phone photographs of the lounge.
Dubai Criminal Court heard this week that the defendant objected to Yadav taking pictures and asked a waiter to tell them to stop. When they refused, he punched the victim twice in the head causing a fatal brain haemorrhage, local media reported.
“[The defendant] was upset and asked me to go to the victim and ask him to stop taking photos,” the 23-year-old Indian waiter told the court.
He reportedly said that the victim and his friends claimed at the time they were only taking photos of themselves, not others in the lounge.
The waiter added: “I saw the Emirati approach the victim and ask him why he was taking pictures.
“The victim told him it was not his problem but the student did not calm down and accused him of shouting, then punched him to the head twice before the victim fell unconscious.”
It was said that the manager then intervened and pulled the student away from the injured man.
“I asked him why he had done that. He said the man took more than 60 pictures,” the manager was quoted as saying. “I told him that he should have informed me instead.”
The manager called an ambulance and performed first aid on the victim.
It was reported that the student had initially denied fatally punching the victim. “No, I never caused his death,” he told Dubai Court of First Instance in September.
The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
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