Dubai : A 37-year-old man, who assaulted a police officer and damaged a patrol car when questioned for walking in the middle of Shaikh Zayed Road, was handed a three-month jail sentence on Sunday.

The slightly-built Indian S.S., who suffers from psychosis, a mental condition, was arrested in December on charges of damaging a police patrol car and attacking an officer after he was found walking in the middle of the busy Shaikh Zayed Road.

However, a Rashid Hospital Psychiatry Department report stated that the suspect was aware of his acts at the time of the incident.

Loud screams

The suspect, who is a metal fitter, was sentenced by the Court of Misdemeanours for breaking the window and causing dents in the door of the police car, which cost the police Dh1,250 to repair. The court also ordered him to pay the repair charges.

On December 30, a police car patrolling the busy Shaikh Zayed Road spotted the man wandering alone and behaving bizarrely. He was reported to have been screaming loudly and having "audio hallucinations".

The patrol managed to get him off the middle of the main road, but when a police officer asked him for identification documents, the bearded suspect failed to produce any.

The two patrol officers tried to get him inside the car, at which point S.S. began resisting violently, kicking and throwing random punches at the officers, during which police officer N.A. was injured in the eye.

He replied to every question asked by the officers with: "I don't understand," in Hindi. Records stated that the man was involuntarily urinating at the time of arrest.

S.S. was reported to Rashid Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. The hospital report stated that despite the man suffering from psychosis and having consumed alcohol on the day of the incident, he was completely aware of what he was doing.

In court, the man tried the same tactic he had used against the officers who questioned him. When the court's Hindi translator queried him, he repeatedly said, "I don't understand" in an attempt to convince the court he was mentally ill.

The presiding judge told him, through the translator, that he suffered no mental disease and was aware of his acts on the day of the event.

The court sentenced him to two months in prison for attacking the policeman and one month for damaging the patrol car.