DUBAI // An electrician who stabbed a fellow worker who confronted him over his drug use has been jailed for two years.
MA, 27, from India, stabbed his compatriot SJ, 36, in the back and chest after being confronted over why he was chewing Pan, a psychoactive preparation of betel leaf.
The colleague nearly died in the attack, requiring 30 days of hospital treatment to recover.
The pair were working at a construction site in Jebel Ali on June 1 last year when the colleague noticed the electrician spitting on his work gear.
"He was chewing Pan, and I asked him: "Are you crazy?" before returning to my work," said the colleague.
The next thing he knew he was being stabbed in the back.
"I fell to the ground and lost consciousness," he said.
Before the knife attack the electrician had kicked another colleague, PF, 26, from India. "I asked him why had he done so but he did not reply," said the second colleague.
Moments later the second colleague saw the electrician taking a knife from under his clothes and approaching the other man.
"He started stabbing the man in his back, chest and neck, and when I tried to prevent him he waved the knife at me and threatened to stab me too," said the second colleague.
He managed to restrain the electrician with the help of other colleagues.
During prosecution interviews the electrician claimed the stabbing was in revenge for an assault.
The Criminal Court ordered him to be deported after completing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae