A BAHRAIN court has ruled that an expatriate worker, who killed his employer’s brother, had planned the murder.

The High Criminal Court yesterday jailed the Indian man, aged 27, for life for murdering Bahraini Ali Mahdi Al Samaheeji.

The attack took place during a heated argument which broke out between the employee and the 65-year-old man at a workshop in A’ali on November 16 last year.

The defendant picked up a chisel and stabbed Mr Al Samaheeji six times in the face, chest, abdomen and back.

The workshop owner, Hassan Al Samaheeji, who is the defendant’s employer, was also stabbed when he tried to intervene.

He sustained injuries and was taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).

The defendant also assaulted two other people, including a woman.

He was found guilty of the charges yesterday despite a defence lawyer previously claiming it was an “impulsive” attack when his employer refused to give him a holiday.

“The defendant knew exactly what he was doing and in fact planned to carry out the murder,” read the court ruling.

“He did not act impulsively as lawyers claimed because he asked his employer for a holiday the day before the murder and not at the same time.

“On the day of the incident, he woke up, smoked a cigarette, went to the bathroom, then back to his bedroom before killing his victim.

“He was thinking and planning the murder before he carried it out.

“He first went to a colleague and stabbed him but the latter managed to flee.

“He then headed to the victim and stabbed him in the back and abdomen before plunging the chisel into the workshop owner’s body.

“He couldn’t kill the others when passers-by stepped in and attacked the defendant with a wooden plank.

“The court used sympathy and handed him life in prison.”

The defendant will also be deported after completing his sentence.

Shocked

Witnesses including the owner of the workshop previously said that they were shocked by the attack due to the defendant “not being a trouble maker”.

The defendant was previously taken to the scene of the crime where he re-enacted the crime.

Horrific pictures of Mr Al Samaheeji lying in a pool of blood, with part of his scalp cut open, were attached to court documents as evidence.

The defendant previously said that he was “hysterical as he wanted to go back home”.

noorz@gdn.com.bh