Dubai: A woman, who bit a policeman’s thumb while she was being handcuffed and injured him, has been jailed for six months.
The 24-year-old Ugandan woman was stopped by the police in Naif area to check on her residency papers in October.
Once asked to present her papers, the Ugandan refused to cooperate and tried to flee before the police patrol members stopped her and tried to handcuff her.
While shackling the handcuffs around her wrists, the 24-year-old bit the hand of a policeman who was trying to restrain her while assisting his female partner.
The Ugandan woman bit the policeman’s right thumb and caused him an injury that required taking him to hospital for treatment.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of biting the policeman while doing his duty and injuring him.
According to the primary ruling, the defendant, who pleaded guilty, will be deported after serving her punishment.
“I bit him but I did not know that he was a policeman and he had not identified himself as one,” she told the presiding judge.
The injured policeman said the incident happened at 9.45am.
“We were patrolling Naif area looking for illegal residents. We suspected the defendant and asked her to show her papers. She refused and tried to run away … we stopped her immediately. Once we tried to handcuff her, she bit me and resisted arrest ferociously. I was taken to hospital for treatment,” he said.
The accused told prosecutors that she bit the policeman and had been staying in the country illegally.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal.
