A worker at a famous fish restaurant allegedly bashed his colleague’s head with a brick, put him into a coma leading to his death nine days later, a court heard yesterday.
The 39-year-old Indian accused has refused to appear before the High Criminal Court, and previously refused to co-operate with detectives, behaving ‘hysterically’ and declining to give his testimony during questioning.
On March 8, the defendant allegedly beat his 25-year-old fellow Indian co-worker, Mohamed Yousif Mohamed, repeatedly and violently with a 2.77kg brick, fracturing his skull and facial bones.
An ambulance which arrived at the shared labour accommodation in A’ali rushed the victim to the BDF Hospital where he died of severe head trauma on March 17.
Prosecutors charged the defendant with pre-meditated murder, accusing him of planning the alleged attack, readying the murder weapon ahead of time and using it to carry out the brutal assault.
“When the victim arrived at the hospital, he was assessed by neurologists, who observed that he was not responsive at all,” read an autopsy report.
The victim’s status was reportedly rated three out of 15 – the lowest possible score – in the Glasgow Coma Scale, which is used to measure the level of a patient’s consciousness after a brain injury.
“No surgical intervention could have improved the patient’s condition or prognosis. He was simply put on life support in the intensive care unit (ICU) until his heart stopped.”
Upon being admitted to the emergency department, he was intubated and put on a ventilator. A three-dimensional (3D) scan was taken of his skull, which visually showed extreme fractures.
The battering reportedly pierced the membranes protecting the brain, shattering at least the middle layer of the skull.
The medical examiner earlier inspected the murder weapon and told the prosecution that all the fractures suffered by the victim were in the head and face.
“These injuries cannot be the result of one blow, but rather a series of intense hits, requiring concentrated force targeting more than one area in the head,” the Egyptian coroner stated.
Meanwhile, the defendant signed a form refusing to appear before judges yesterday, and had not given a single testimony in Public Prosecution questioning.
“The suspect took off his sandal and began shouting during the interview, and began speaking incoherently and tried to leave,” a prosecutor earlier noted.
“An officer tried to get him under control but he resisted, causing disruptions.”
Despite these erratic behaviour, a panel of psychiatrists who evaluated the defendant found that he was fit to stand trial, and did not suffer from any mental impairments that could render him not responsible for his actions.
After his arrest, he was admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital for 15 days.
Several of the expats’ fellow Indian co-workers, who shared the labour accommodation with the defendant and victim, testified about witnessing the assault.
Two of them said that they were woken up by Mr Mohamed’s screams, and only came to when it was already too late.
“I saw the defendant standing over Mr Mohamed’s body, with blood covering the victim’s face. I took the brick away from him, and we stayed with him until police came over to arrest him,” a colleague added.
Another colleague testified that he tried to stop the assault but the accused threatened that he would bash his head, too, if he interfered.
The judges set June 30 as the verdict date.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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