Dubai: A worker has been accused of stabbing a packaging employee at a fruit and vegetable market in a bid to kill him after they quarrelled over the priority of using a trolley to move vegetables.

The 24-year-old Pakistani packaging employee was said to be packing boxes of fruits and vegetables and unloading them from a truck into a trolley at the market in January.

When he was about to start pushing the trolley, the employee’s 21-year-old countryman worker came to him and stopped him from moving the trolley, according to records.

The worker allegedly placed his leg on the edge of the trolley to prevent moving it and told the employee that the trolley belonged to him, said records.

The packaging employee did not respond and tried to keep moving the trolley before the worker took out a pocket knife and stabbed him in his chest.

The worker and the employee got into a physical altercation and other workers who were present at the market intervened to stop the fight before the employee dropped down bleeding.

The stabbed employee was rushed to hospital and underwent immediate operation that saved his life.

Witnesses, who had stopped the fight, called the police who arrested the worker.

According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said the suspect intended to kill the 24-year-old as he stabbed him near his heart. The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

“I did not try to kill him. He was the one who attacked and assaulted me first,” the suspect argued before presiding judge Urfan Omar.

The employee told prosecutors that the suspect took him by surprise and stabbed him when they fought over the priority to use the trolley.

“He stopped me from using it and claimed that it was his trolley. When I tried to move it, he blocked my way using his leg. Then he stabbed me and we assaulted each other. Then I felt weak and sat down on the floor when I noticed that I was bleeding … other workers intervened to stop the fight. I lost consciousness and only regained consciousness a week later in the hospital. When the suspect stabbed me, I snatched the knife from his hand and threw it away,” he testified to prosecutors.

A witness told prosecutors that the knife was broken when he saw it on the floor near the spot where the fight had happened.

The trial continues.