Dubai: A visitor has been jailed for six months for resisting arrest and assaulting two policemen who tried to arrest him while he was posting massage spa cards on car windows.
In February, the two policemen saw the 29-year-old Nigerian visitor putting cards of a massage spa on vehicles at 10.45pm and stopped him to ask him about those cards.
Once the two police officers identified themselves, the Nigerian tried to run away.
The policemen instantly restrained him and when they tried to stop him, he beat them and pushed them and resisted arrest for some time until they managed to handcuff him.
On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 29-year-old defendant of resisting arrest and beating two police officers who tried to apprehend him.
When he showed up in court, he pleaded innocent and said he did not know that they were policemen.
“Two men took me by surprise from behind and tried to apprehend me. I did not know that they were police officers and they did not identify themselves as officers. They just tried to grab me … I did not have any criminal intent,” argued the defendant as he defended in court.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the accused will be deported after serving his jail term.
One of the assaulted officers said the incident happened when they tried to question the suspect about the massage spa cards.
“We stopped the defendant and once my partner notified him that we are policemen, he tried to abscond. We held him but he resisted, pushed us and beat us as well. He punched me and caused me nose bleeding … my partner also sustained some bruises when he tried to handcuff the accused. After we had him restrained, we accompanied him to the police station along with the massage spa cards,” he testified to policemen.
The other assaulted officer testified that the incident happened in Al Nahda.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
