Dubai An architect, accused of being responsible for the death of a supervisor who fell off a warehouse roof that became slippery due to rainwater, pleaded not guilty yesterday.
Prosecutors charged the 39-year-old Indian architect of negligence and being responsible for his workmate's death by failing to adhere to and apply safety and precautionary measures at the worksite.
"I am not guilty. I was not responsible for what happened," said S.J. when he defended himself before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court. His advocate Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi argued in courtroom nine that his client is innocent and not responsible for accident.
Summon inspector
"My client is an architect and not a civil engineer. He did not give out any orders to the victim to go up the roof and fix a rainwater leakage.
"I ask the court to summon the Dubai Municipality inspector to discuss his accident report. As part of our defence strategy, we want to prove that S.J. did not assign the victim to fix the roof as that assignment was beyond my client's duty.
"The worker is allegedly responsible for his own death… he took the initiative and went atop the roof to fix the leakage before he slipped and fell to his death," argued Al Shamsi.
Accident report
The court will hear the statement of the municipal inspector and discuss his accident report when it reconvenes on July 12.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the defendant failed to provide an appropriate work platform for the workers while doing maintenance atop the roof that cannot withstand any overload.
He also failed to apply any precautionary or safety measures.
Prosecutors said the accident happened because of lack of strict monitoring by the company to ensure its workers abided by work safety and security rules at the site.
Fatal fall
Prosecution records said the plastic bars on the roof broke and the victim, M.B., fell and died.
An Indian carpenter testified that the victim informed him that he would go up the roof to fix the rainwater leakage in the site.
Shortly after that M.B. fell down from the roof, according to the carpenter's statement, and they called an ambulance. The trial continues.
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