DUBAI // A man who stabbed his drunk roommate to death after he turned up the television volume and began singing loudly was today sentenced to three years in prison.
RB, a 48-year-old Filipino carpenter, stabbed his compatriot in the neck, chest, face and arms in their room at the Bin Helieba labour camp in Jebel Ali on January 23, 2009.
His roommate had been drinking alcohol elsewhere in the labour camp with a friend before returning to the room he shared with the carpenter.
He turned up the television volume and started singing at the top of his voice, but the carpenter turned the set off and the singing roomate then attacked him with a screwdriver.
The carpenter said he then stabbed his roomate with a knife "to protect myself".
When police arrived they found the carpenter sitting on a bunk bed and the other man face down on the floor in a pool of blood.
Tests showed the carpenter had consumed significantly less alcohol than his singing roomate, which led prosecutors to accuse him of premeditated murder.
The carpenter said it was not the first time they had argued about music and singing. He will be deported after completing his prison term.
salamir@thenational.ae