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A 25-year-old expatriate who allegedly hammered his roommate to death and then burned the man’s body is standing trial at the High Criminal Court.
The Pakistani restaurant worker is facing murder and arson charges that he denies.
The accused reportedly hit his 41-year-old Bangladeshi colleague ‘multiple times’ over the head and then tried to hide the evidence by burning down their place of residence on April 9.
Both men lived in a building on a Tubli farm along with two other men and worked at a restaurant nearby.
The court heard that on the morning of the incident, the accused was in possession of a hammer and was ready to carry out the assault when their other roommates had left for work.
Once alone, he allegedly took the weapon and smashed the man’s head until he died. In an alleged attempt to get rid of the evidence he set fire to the victim’s body and the flames spread across the residence.
One of their roommates, a 35-year-old Bangladeshi cook, told the court he woke up at around 6am and both of his colleagues were asleep which was not unusual because they were on later shifts.
Midday came and one of them was missing. Thirty minutes later, the cook asked where the victim was and the accused allegedly told him that ‘he was still asleep’.
Attempts to call the victim failed to gain any response. The cook contacted the owner of the restaurant, a 32-year-old Bahraini, reporting to him that the worker had failed to show up on time.
The owner attempted to call him multiple times too without success.
The next call raised the alarm.
The cook rang the owner once again and asked him to rush over to their place of residence, as he had been informed that a fire had broken out on site.
The Bahraini arrived to witness thick smoke billowing into the sky as he approached the farm.
The residence was up in flames. The missing worker was found lying lifeless on the floor on his stomach between two beds. He was covered in blood, apparently had suffered severe injuries, as well as burn marks, the court heard.
The owner called for the police and then spotted the accused ‘looking scared and crying’ saying that he had tried to ‘put out the fire’.
The police and civil defence arrived at the scene and extinguished the flames before launching an investigation.
The accused was arrested less than 24 hours later.
Investigations confirmed that the man had been killed ‘with a blunt object’. A hammer was discovered by forensic officers.
After being questioned by the judge, the accused admitted to killing the victim and burning the body and claimed he did so only because he was ‘scared and acting in self defence’, denying the murder charge.
The case has been adjourned until next week, when three witnesses – the restaurant owner, cook and a co-worker, are expected to testify.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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