Dubai: An employee has been jailed for hitting a merchant's head with a billiard stick and killing him following a verbal spat between them, ruled a court on Monday.

The Dubai Court of First Instance gave the 26-year-old Emirati five years in jail for beating the Syrian merchant on his head with a billiard stick after he was verbally abused. Medical reports said the deceased later succumbed to a fractured skull.

"I didn't kill him and I am not guilty," argued accused, D.A., when he defended himself before Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad. The Public Prosecution charged D.A. with battering the 41-year-old Syrian merchant, B.I., to death.

An Emirati first lieutenant testified that the accused walked in to the police station on the day of the incident and claimed that he had slapped someone (who later turned out to be the deceased) who had cursed him in Al Rashidiya.

"He came to me around 5am and admitted that he quarrelled with someone who cursed him and beat him and 30 minutes later a police patrol told us that the merchant had been rushed to Rashid Hospital after he was found unconscious on the ground," said the first lieutenant.

A forensic doctor from Dubai Police confirmed the victim had been hit with a hard object. The verdict is still subject to appeal within 15 days.