Dubai: A shepherd, who bit off a chunk of the ear of his wife’s former boss following a hearing of a labour-related case in Dubai, has been jailed for six months.
The woman was sacked from the restaurant by her Sudanese boss and she lodged a labour lawsuit against the latter in May.
Accompanied by her 49-year-old Sudanese husband, a shepherd, the woman attended the hearing at the Dubai Labour Court and once the hearing concluded, the husband walked out behind his wife’s ex-boss.
Having followed the boss in the court’s corridors and then out to the main stairs at the entrance, the husband jumped on the man’s back and bit his ear.
Shouting painfully, the woman’s ex-boss threw the defendant off his back before he saw a piece of his ear between his attacker’s teeth.
The victim bled profusely and was rushed to hospital after which police were alerted about the assault.
On Monday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 49-year-old defendant of assaulting the victim and leaving him with a permanently disabled ear.
The accused, who had pleaded guilty, will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The Sudanese boss said the accused followed him till he went out of the court building.
“When I realised that he had been following me, I stopped and asked him why he was doing me … but he didn’t respond. He continued walking behind me although I took an alternative route. Suddenly he jumped on me and stuck his teeth into my ear,” said the restaurant boss.
“When I pushed him off, he fell down and chewed off the lower part of my ear. I saw the lower part of my ear in his mouth … people present around us instantly intervened and stopped the assault. Later I was told that he is the husband of an employee of the restaurant who was sacked recently,” he testified.
A policeman told prosecutors that the defendant told him that he attacked the victim because he provoked him.
Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
