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A labourer, who stabbed his best friend to death with a kitchen knife, appealed against his life sentence yesterday.
Last month, the 43-year-old Pakistani man was found guilty of murder, after attacking his companion in a drunken rage, plunging the blade into his compatriot’s chest.
The knife reportedly pierced the 47-year-old victim’s heart, tore one of his lungs, and left behind a 2.5cm-wide wound on the left side of his chest, as the medical examiner noted in the autopsy.
The defendant took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to contest the 25-year prison term, and judges set Sunday as the date the man will be brought before the court.
The appellant was earlier declared fit to stand trial after being evaluated by a medical commission made up of three consulting psychiatrists.
The GDN earlier reported that the two men were best friends of more than 10 years, and had worked in several Arab countries together before coming to work in Bahrain.
On the night of the tragic murder, the two men had merrily gone drinking, but the appellant’s temper exploded after being told that the victim badmouthed his family members.
The quarrel broke out when the expat learned that his best friend had hit his older brother, with whom he shared the labour accommodation, and insulted his mother and sister.
After confronting the victim, who admitted to insulting the appellant’s family, the appellant ran to the kitchen and slipped a knife into his pocket, then threw himself at the victim and stabbed him.
Following the bloody attack, the appellant reportedly ran out of the apartment and wandered the streets aimlessly, until he was located and arrested by policemen.
Though he denied planning the killing ahead of time, he told judges that he had been drunk at the time of the incident, which led him to seriously injure the victim in a fit of rage.
“Restrain him – he’s holding a knife!” were the victim’s last words, according to his roommates who were trying to stop the appellant’s assault.
In a previous hearing, a 23-year-old housemate of the victim said he tried to apply first aid to the victim after the attack, but it was to no avail.
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