DUBAI // Five Bangladeshi workers who beat a man to death after he questioned their work have been jailed.
The Indian man suffered fatal injuries in a 10-minute beating by the five men after the victim made comments about the quality of their cleaning work.
The men, aged between 23 and 30, confessed to physical assault but denied any intention to end the man’s life.
Prosecutors charged them with assault that caused death rather than murder as a medical report said that his injuries from the attack did not directly kill him.
On Tuesday, Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the Bangladeshi men to 3 years in jail each.
The incident occurred in labour accommodation in Al Quoz industrial area on August 27 last year at about 8.30pm.
“I was there when the victim started talking to the defendant about his work and suddenly he kicked him in the chest and called his friends to join in the attack but one of them did not take part in the attack, he was just there,” said a 26-year-old Indian cleaner who works at the same cleaning services company as the defendants.
The witness said the men kicked and punched the Indian for 10 minutes and his attempts to help were thwarted as he was outnumbered.
“One of them punched the man’s head to the wall then he started vomiting blood,” said the witness, who called his supervisor and then police.
A medical report said the deceased suffered several fractures, including to his spine, but it concluded that none of the fractures or injuries caused his death.
The report instead blamed “post-exercise peril”, which happens to people after putting a great effort into a fight or exercise, causing a severe drop in potassium levels, which in turn affects the heart.
They will all be deported after completing their sentences.
tzriqat@thenational.ae