UAE | Crime
Road-rage driver 'tried to hit me with horsewhip'
A businessman has been charged with braking suddenly in front of a student's car, hitting him in the chest and threatening him with a horsewhip.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:28 April 30, 2008
Dubai: A businessman has been charged with braking suddenly in front of a student's car, hitting him in the chest and threatening him with a horsewhip, in the third road rage incident to have surfaced in court recently.
Records said the 30-year-old Pakistani businessman endangered the 22-year-old Emirati student's life by braking in front of him as well as swerving to the right and hitting the victim's car when he tried to pass him from the right. The businessman, identified as S.A., pleaded not guilty to endangering the Emirati's life before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday and also denied assault.
"We handle traffic accidents which happen due to driver error but whenever we suspect criminal behaviour or intentionality we instantly refer the case to a criminal court and not the traffic court," said Salah Bu Farousha, head of Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution yesterday.
S.A. was charged with leaving the student, T.A., with a two per cent permanent disability to his chest and endangering his life in what records have marked as the third road rage incident in a month.
T.A. testified: "He drove very slowly although the signal had just turned green.... When I tried to overtake him from the right side, he hit the side of my car. He walked towards me and hit me in the chest... my brother who happened to be passing at the same spot intervened to defend me... other motorists stopped the suspect from hitting me or my brother with a horsewhip which he pulled out from his vehicle."
Meanwhile, S.A. claimed in his statement the two brothers assaulted him after T.A. manoeuvred his car dangerously from behind and hit his car.
In another road rage incident, an Asian faces trial for endangering a person's life and leaving him with a five per cent permanent disability after beating him.
The court earlier sentenced a 28-year-old American to three months in jail for flashing his middle finger, cursing an Emirati employee and leaving him with a seven per cent permanent disability to his nose following a road rage incident.
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