DUBAI: A youth butchered a 16-year-old compatriot friend for insulting him and his family members, officers revealed on Thursday.

The Emirati defendant, 22, attacked the teen at a street in Oud Al Muteena at night on Monday following a misunderstanding that saw the teen allegedly hurling insults at the defendant.

At around 7pm on Jan.22, the teen reportedly contacted the defendant and screamed insults targeting him and his family members, then ended the call. The defendant boiled with anger.

At around 11pm he contacted the teen for a meeting. They agreed to meet near a supermarket in the neighbourhood. The defendant before leaving home picked a knife from the bag of a motorbike.

He hid it under his trousers. Upon meeting the teen he demanded to know why he insulted him and his family. The teen kept  mum. The defendant pulled out the knife and charged.

He waved the knife towards the teen’s shoulder. The teen moved. The knife slid and landed on his head leaving a deep wound. The defendant kept knifing him on various parts of his body.

“I knifed him hysterically until when I saw motorists pulling over around us to check what was going on. I ran away,” the defendant allegedly confessed during questioning at Al Qusais Police Station.

He handed himself over to the police. During police interrogations on Tuesday he denied having had a murder motive and argued that he only wanted to teach the teen “a lesson.”

He then contended he stabbed the teen more than once because he was in a fit of anger. “I did not mean to kill him. Even the injuries I inflicted on him were not fatal, I believe,” he argued.

Police and ambulance personnel rushed to the scene upon a tipoff but the teen succumbed to the injuries. A medical report discussed deep stab wounds on his head and right upper arm.