Man in court over causing accident while driving under the influence of banned substance

Dubai: A lawyer argued in court on Thursday that his client was under medication when a policeman detained him after his involvement in an accident while driving under the influence of a banned substance.

An Emirati man, M.B., was said to have caused an accident before a traffic policeman caught him for driving under the influence of a banned substance in September.

Drugs prosecutors charged M.B. with consuming hashish and different mind-altering substances, driving under the influence of banned substances and driving recklessly and causing an accident.

M.B. entered a not guilty plea when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

His lawyer, Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi, argued before presiding judge Ezzat Mansour that law enforcement procedures were carried out unlawfully and improperly against his client.

“My client drove his car under the influence of a prescribed medicine. He did not consume drugs and was detained unlawfully as a traffic policeman had apprehended him in a drug case. He was not caught in possession of any illegal substance,” argued Al Shamsi in court.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect consumed hashish, amphetamine, clonazepam, alprazolam, procyclidine and meprobamate. He was also charged with driving under the influence of drugs and causing an accident.

“I did not consume hashish. It is true that I caused an accident but I was under the influence of a prescribed medicine … I had not taken the pills illegally. Those medicines were prescribed to me by the Health Ministry as I have been under medication for three years,” M.B. told the court.

Al Shamsi further argued that the case file lacked strong and substantiated evidence that his client had consumed any illegal substance.

“The results of his drug tests matched the components of the prescribed medicines that he had been consuming. Hence the consumption is legal and his accusations should be dismissed. We ask the court to acquit him,” argued the lawyer.

A ruling will be heard in January.