Five Israelis have been acquitted by Dubai’s Appeal Court which overturned their convictions of aiding and abetting their 19-year-old compatriot in a premeditated murder at Business Bay area in May 2023.
Earlier this week, the authority overturned the 10-year imprisonment for each of the five suspects and acquitted them of aiding and abetting the teenage defendant, H.Y., in premeditatedly killing a 33-year-old Israeli man outside a shisha cafe.
The court cited uncorroborated and insufficient evidence against them.
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Meanwhile, the primary defendant lost his appeal as the appellate judges upheld his life sentence despite his lawyer having sought to overturn the conviction citing ‘self-defence’.
H.Y.’s lawyer Massouma Al Sayegh of Dar Al Balagh Advocates confirmed to Khaleej Times that the defence team will study the reasoning of the appellate judgement and will appeal before the Court of Cassation.
Al Sayegh had earlier argued before the Court of Appeal that her client had no intention of killing the victim.
In January, the Dubai Court of First Instance found H.Y. guilty of ‘premeditatedly killing’ the 33-year-old after stabbing him to death with a knife. He was given a life sentence. Meanwhile, the other five suspects were jailed for 10 years each. The six men had been ordered to be deported after serving their punishments.
“My client was unfoundedly accused of preplanning and premeditatedly murdering the victim. H.Y. didn’t have any deliberate intent to kill the victim,” Al Sayegh argued in her defence submission before the appellate court.
“The victim initiated the assault when he attacked my client with a chair, and the accused defended himself,” she said.
The group was inside the shisha cafe when the victim and his friend arrived, according to documents that the defence lawyer submitted to the appellate court.
The victim was on his mobile outside the door when his friend walked in, spotted the 19-year-old defendant, and cursed at his mother and sister, the lawyer said.
“The two quarrelled. Then the friend walked out, wanting to leave, while the teenager and his companions followed him. The victim attacked H.Y. with a chair in an attempt to prevent him from chasing the friend — but the 19 year old defended himself and stabbed the victim to push him away,” said Al Sayegh, reiterating that H.Y. “didn’t have any intention or premeditated intention to kill”.
Less than 24 hours after the murder, the Dubai Police tracked down and arrested the suspects.
It turned out the group knew the victim and his relatives, according to the primary judgement and prosecutors’ findings — and the murder happened due to previous disputes and vengeance issues dating back to when they were in Israel.
The appellate court last month had commissioned prosecutors to re-communicate with Dubai Police to obtain a supplementary report regarding the content of CCTV footage to scrutinise each of the suspects’ independent involvement in the assault.
The Court of Appeal’s judges further dismissed the civil lawsuit lodged against the five acquitted suspects.
H.Y.’s deportation has been upheld and the blood parent’s civil lawsuit against him has been referred to the Dubai Civil Court.
A hearing before Dubai’s highest court will be scheduled soon.