Dubai: An Emirati businessman, his son and brother, have been charged with causing permanent disability to a pregnant woman after assaulting the woman and her husband in a restaurant scuffle.
Medical reports showed that the woman, who is Canadian, sustained 5 per cent disability in her jaw after the 52-year-old businessman, his 33-year-old son and 43-year-old brother, allegedly attacked her and her husband in a restaurant in Dubai Festival City.
Prosecutors accused 52-year-old A.Z., his son, M.Z., and his brother I.Z., of assaulting and injuring the pregnant woman, B.B. and her husband, A.K. The businessman was solely charged with threatening a Syrian man who spotted the alleged assault.
According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors said the suspects beat and kicked the married couple in the middle of the restaurant.
B.B. [who was seven months pregnant at the time of the incident] testified that A.Z. walked straight towards them and asked them to move away from the table claiming he had already reserved it for his family for lunch.
"My husband and I were having lunch. The three suspects came to us… A.Z. asked us to move to another table. When I told him that I was pregnant and cannot move to another table, my husband asked me to remain silent. My husband asked him to move to an empty table … that was when he got irritated and pushed my husband. Then the three started punching and kicking him. When I tried to stop them, A.Z. gave me a strong blow on my jaw [and] then I fell on the floor, and they continued their assault," claimed B.B. in her prosecution statement.
A.K. alleged in his statement that the businessman was angry because he asked him to search for an empty table.
"I am not guilty. I didn't assault anyone," argued I.Z. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance's Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad.
The father and his son failed to appear in courtroom four yesterday.
The Canadians' lawyer, Rokouz Hobaika [claimant in civil right], told Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad that his clients are seeking temporary compensation.
