Dubai: A female cafe manager has been accused of offending a policeman and prohibiting him from checking the identification cards of her staff following a brawl.

The police were summoned to the cafe in July after a skirmish, but the 36-year-old Ethiopian manager shouted at the policeman and prevented him from asking her staff for their Emirates Ids or labour cards.

A police patrol had been dispatched to the cafe where the purported brawl took place, according to records, when the female manager shouted at the policeman and threatened to have him fired from the force and deported from the country.

Shortly after the incident, the woman was taken into custody.

Prosecutors accused her of verbally abusing the policeman, thwarting him from doing his duty and threatening to have him sacked from Dubai Police and getting him deported as well.

The Ethiopian woman pleaded not guilty and refuted her accusations when she appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

The policeman testified to prosecutors that the incident happened when they were informed about a fracas that had taken place at the cafe in Freij Al Marar.

“We headed to the location and I went into the cafe to check out what had happened. One of the clients claimed to me that an Ethiopian woman had taken his wallet and mobile … the client pointed at a woman [a waitress]. When I asked her for her identification papers, the suspect [cafe manager] stepped in and told her not to give me the papers. Then I asked the suspect to give me her papers, and she refused as well. She said that she manages the cafe and would not allow me to ask the staff for their identification papers … she also yelled at me offensively. Then she said loudly ‘I will have you fired from the police and get you deported as well’. Then I turned around and walked away to the police patrol to call for backup and some policewomen to come,” the policeman claimed to prosecutors.

The suspect’s lawyer asked presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi to adjourn the case to hear prosecution witnesses’ statements.

The court reconvenes on April 2.