Dubai: A man has been jailed for a year for beating and insulting a police sergeant, who had handcuffed him in a police station, and threatened to gun him down and bury him.
The 23-year-old British man was taken to the police station after indulging in a fight in August.
When the police sergeant tried to take down the man’s statement, the Briton pretended that he did not know English language.
The sergeant handcuffed and left him inside one of the offices, and then went to anther office before his partner came and told him that the Briton had taken off the handcuffs.
When the sergeant went to find out how the British man had released himself, the 23-year-old got angry and assaulted him.
On Wednesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the British defendant of assaulting, insulting and verbally threatening to kill the sergeant.
Records showed the Briton told the sergeant: “I will kill you with a Magnum gun and bury you with my own hands.”
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused will be tried for overstaying in the country after his work visa expired before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the assault charges and admitted that he had stayed in the country illegally after his work visa had expired.
He will be deported after serving his jail term.
The sergeant testified that the incident happened following the involvement of the accused in a fight.
“When I asked him in Arabic, he didn’t respond. Then when I asked him in English, he replied ‘no English’. I left him handcuffed in the office and went to the next office … my partner came and told me that the suspect had removed the handcuffs. When I returned to the office and asked him how he removed the handcuffs, he turned angry. He insulted and assaulted me … he also threatened to gun me down with a Magnum handgun. When he turned physically violent, I sustained a bruise in my chest,” he claimed to prosecutors.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
