Dubai: A cleaner and a worker have been accused of beating their workmate and causing him a permanent disability.
The 23-year-old Indian cleaner, M.L., and his 54-year-old countryman worker, J.B., were said to have beaten up their 32-year-old Bangladeshi co-worker who was the reason behind getting them detained for bootlegging in the labour accommodation of their company in February.
Prosecutors accused M.L. and J.B. of beating the co-worker and causing him a two per cent permanent disability in his finger.
Jail wardens did not bring M.L. from his detention and produce him before the Dubai Court of First Instance where he was scheduled to enter his plea on Wednesday.
“I did not beat him,” said J.B. when he entered a not guilty plea before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.
“Who beat him and injured him then?” the judge asked.
“I do not know,” he replied.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the defendants used an iron bar to beat him and caused him a disability without intending to do so.
The 32-year-old claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened after he reported to the company’s security guards that some of his colleagues [including the defendants] had been selling liquor.
“The security then called the police … they came and detained a few workers who had been bootlegging. Among those detainees were the suspects. M.L. was confined for one day and then he was released on bail. The next day around 5.40am, I was walking out of the accommodation heading to work … M.L. and two others stopped me. They assaulted me with an iron bar repeatedly and injured my finger. They did not stop beating me until a Pakistani man, who happened to be passing by, spotted them and rushed to help me. The assaulters ran away. The Pakistani man called up the police and an ambulance. I was rushed to hospital for treatment,” he testified.
Medical reports confirmed that the co-worker is now unable to flex his finger which is disfigured.
Presiding judge Al Shamsi adjourned the hearing until M.L. is brought from detention to enter a plea later this month.