Abu Dhabi: A court has ordered a man to be lashed 80 times and jailed for a month for driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to follow traffic rules.
J.A., a compatriot of the first defendant K.N., received a four-year jail term from the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance. J.A. was tried on the same charges, and also for taking hashish.
Both men are of German origin, and were involved in a traffic accident along with a third defendant of Russian origin, M.A., who was freed on bail.
In a previous hearing, J.A. said that he had taken the hashish, which was found in his bloodstream after the accident, before he had arrived in the UAE about two weeks ago.
Drug addict
He had argued that the amount of hashish in his blood was high because he was a drug addict and smoked the drug on a daily basis.
Forensic experts at the court however disagreed with J.A.'s statement. They reported to the presiding judge that according to their investigations, J.A. had taken the hashish after arriving in the UAE.
The third defendant in the case, M.A., was ordered to pay a Dh2,000 fine for his traffic offence.
"I won't appeal the verdict because I just have to pay a fine, but I want to make sure of the exact amount," M.A. said after the hearing.
