Dubai: A drunken traveller has been accused of beating and cursing a policeman and clicking a photo of him then tearing his jacket after he was busted stealing perfumes on New Year’s Eve.
A Filipino security officer at the Dubai International Airport was said to have spotted the 47-year-old British traveller on surveillance cameras stealing perfumes from the Duty Free section on December 31.
Once he made sure that the British traveller had taken perfumes without paying for them, the Filipino reported the matter to the airport’s police desk.
While being interrogated at the police desk, the British traveller, who was drunk, used his phone to click a photo of the investigating policeman without permission.
The policeman asked the Briton to give him the phone to delete the photo but the suspect turned physically violent and assaulted the policeman.
The traveller beat the policeman on his hand and cursed him, then he pulled his arm and ripped off the sleeve of the policeman’s jacket.
The policeman and his partners restrained the Briton and put him in custody for further legal action.
Prosecutors charged the British suspect with getting drunk, attempting to steal perfumes, assaulting and insulting a policeman, taking a photo of him without his permission and ripping off a police uniform (jacket).
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said after the suspect got drunk at the airport, he tried to steal two bottles of perfume, three golf balls and three liquor bottles worth Dh3,300 from the Duty Free.
The British suspect pleaded not guilty when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
He admitted that he consumed alcohol but refuted his five remaining charges when he defended himself before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.
The assaulted policeman told prosecutors that the incident happened shortly after the Briton was reported to have taken items from the Duty Free without paying for them.
“Upon questioning him at the police desk, he used his smart phone and clicked a photo of me. I asked him to give me his phone to delete the photo, but he refused. When I tried to take the phone from him, he turned violent. He beat me and cursed me and then he ripped off my jacket’s sleeve. We restrained him and put him in the detention centre to be taken later to the public prosecution. He was reported to have been spotted on CCTV stealing some products from the Duty Free,” he testified to prosecutors.
The British suspect was quoted admitting to prosecutors that he got drunk and took items from the Duty Free without paying for them besides assaulting the policeman.
A ruling will be heard on April 22.
