A driver who disfigured a man who loaned him money will have to see out his three-month jail term after losing his appeal.
The 35-year-old Pakistani defendant was found guilty of physically assaulting the Ghanaian man, whose age was not disclosed, on June 18 last year.
Prosecutors said that at 6am on the day of the incident, the victim visited the home of the defendant in Al Nahda, while accompanied by a female friend, to ask the man to return the money he owed him.
"I wanted to ask him for my Dh14,500 which I gave him after he promised to find me a decent job with a security company. I was introduced to him by a countryman who told me he would find me a good-paying job," he said.
The Ghanaian said he paid the driver in instalments but afterwards the man disappeared.
"Every time I found him he would stall and give empty promises," he said.
When he visited the man's home and asked for his money back, the Pakistani pulled out a knife and started stabbing him.
"I tried to defend myself and stop him but I couldn't," said the Ghanaian. He said his attacker then threw the blade down a rubbish shoot but it got stuck.
The victim's friend, who was waiting in the car, told prosecutors that he was taking a long time so she followed him in and found him bleeding on the floor with the defendant on top of him.
"My friend had wounds on his face, hands and arms and was bleeding heavily and the defendant was holding a sharp thing in his hand. I felt so scared and ran downstairs to find help but no one was there, so I called police," said the woman, who is also from Ghana but whose age was not disclosed.
She said her friend had wanted to visit the man at 6am because he had previously gone to the defendant's home before during the day and never found him.
Police arrived and arrested the defendant after seizing the knife, which they found stuck in the corner of the rubbish shoot.
The Ghanaian was taken to hospital and a medical report showed that his face was disfigured beyond any reconstruction treatment.
The defendant will be deported after serving his term.