Dubai:
A woman has been accused of hurling a wine glass at a man’s eye and causing him partial blindness after he joked about her being a lesbian.
The 31-year-old Kenyan woman, K.S., was attending a dinner party at the house of the 29-year-old Lebanese man A.H.’s girlfriend when she got angered by his discriminatory remarks and threw the glass at his eye in February 2015.
There were more than five couples when K.S., according to records, overheard A.H. joking about her gay relationship with her girlfriend and wondering how would they be able to have children, when she assaulted him.
Prosecutors accused K.S. and A.H. of exchanging curses. The woman suspect was solely accused of assaulting the Lebanese and causing him permanent disability. A.H. was charged with drinking liquor.
The duo pleaded not guilty and denied exchanging bad words when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.
According to the chargesheet, prosecutors said K.S. assaulted A.H. and caused him 40 per cent permanent blindness. They were also accused of publicly cursing each other.
“I did not assault him or curse him,” the Kenyan woman told presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi in courtroom 7.
The Lebanese suspect contended: “Yes I drank liquor … but I did not curse her.”
A.H.’s lawyer Saoud Al Zarouni asked the court to adjourn the case until he lodges a civil lawsuit against K.S. and seek a temporary compensation against his client’s injury.
In his capacity as a victim, A.H. claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened during a dinner party that his Tanzanian girlfriend had thrown for friends.
“My girlfriend had invited several friends over dinner … during which I drank two beers. Around midnight I had a heated argument with K.S., who suddenly hurled a glass at my left eye. I bled and my friends rushed me to hospital,” he testified to prosecutors.
A Tanzanian friend claimed to prosecutors that the fight happened at the girlfriend’s place at Oudh Al Mutaina.
“There were 10 persons and every one came with the partner. A heated argument erupted between the suspects when K.S. overheard A.H. joking about her and her girlfriend. I heard K.S. telling her girlfriend ‘did you hear what he said!’. She repeated the sentence twice … then she spoke out loudly to her girlfriend saying ‘he is questioning how would we be able to have children if we continued living together’. Then she cursed A.H. and went to the door to leave the party. The Lebanese suspect tried to calm her down and asked her to stay … she refused and cursed him. Then she threw the liquor [in her glass] at A.H.’s face and then hit him with the glass. He was injured and bled,” testified the witness.
The trial continues.
