Dubai: An unemployed man has been jailed for six months for beating up two policemen, destroying phones and kicking a fire alarm at a police station where he was detained.
The British man, 29, was held in custody at a police station where he claimed to be ill, in an attempt to be taken to hospital, when the incident happened in February.
Two policemen heard the Briton shouting in his detention cell at 11.30pm and thought he required medical attention.
He was taken out of his cell and seated on a chair, before the medical team checked him and told the policemen that he didn’t need any medication or treatment.
The Briton then assaulted the policemen, behaved rowdily and wrecked the fire alarm, a landline phone and mobile phone, when the two cops tried to take him back into confinement.
On Thursday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Briton of assault and damage to public property.
Presiding judge Habib Awad also ordered the accused to pay Dh1,300 for repairing the fire alarm and the phones.
The accused, who confessed to breaking the fire alarm and denied the remaining charges, will be deported after completing his punishment.
One of the two policemen testified that the accused had alleged he was suffering breathing difficulties and required medication. “The medical team checked him and notified us that he didn’t need any medication. While we were taking him back to his cell, he resisted us and tried to prevent us from taking him back inside. When we stopped him from running out of the corridor, he ran into a desk and broke the landline phone. He also grabbed and flung a policewoman’s mobile, damaging the screen. He also assaulted us,” he said.
Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
