Dubai: A man has been accused of verbally threatening to kill a businesswoman, who had hired him at her restaurant, if she didn’t return his passport.
The 26-year-old Pakistani man was said to have been searching for a job when he read a newspaper advertisement about a vacancy in a Chinese restaurant at the Dubai International City in April.
The man visited the restaurant and agreed with its owner, a Chinese businesswoman to work for one week on a trial basis, said records.
During his first few days at work, several customers complained to the businesswoman that he was rude and rowdy before she asked him to leave.
The man refused to leave the restaurant and had a heated argument with the owner and then he broke the mobile phone of owner’s Chinese business-partner.
Thereafter the owner called the police which helped resolve the matter amicably after the Pakistani suspect agreed to work at the restaurant until he pays for the damages he had caused. She also kept the man’s passport with her as a guarantee.
Few days later the Chinese businesswoman decided to sack the suspect because he was lazy and mostly busy on his phone while on duty.
After that the Chinese woman went to the police station, handed them over the suspect’s passport and told them that she did not want him to work for her anymore. She told the police that she just wanted the man to pay for the damages that he had caused.
Later that day the man stormed into the restaurant, yelled at the businesswoman, dragged a knife from the kitchen and threatened to kill her if she did not give him back his passport.
The businessman instantly called the police that apprehended the man.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of verbally threatening to kill the woman.
The suspect pleaded innocent when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
“I did not threaten to kill her … I went there to get back my passport and I threatened to kill myself,” the suspect argued before presiding judge Urfan Omar.
The business-partner told prosecutors: “We decided not to hire the suspect because the customers complained of his rude behaviour … we also learnt that he had a criminal record in Britain. We told him that we would give him back his passport once he paid for the damaged phone.”
A ruling in the case will be announced on June 19.
