Duo in Dubai charged with mutual assault over a boat incident

Dubai: A Dubai-based man has been accused of assaulting a western visitor after he thought he was a thief stealing from a boat in Dubai.

According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, the 36-year-old westerner visitor was aboard the boat at the Dubai Canal with the defendant. The visitor was allegedly carrying bottles from the boat to a car when the 28-year-old defendant saw him and thought he was a thief.

“The cook in the boat asked me to take the bottles out of the boat. The defendant thought I was stealing them,” the visitor said in official records.

The man allegedly attacked the visitor, punched him repeatedly on the nose and got punched back.

“The captain saw what happened and asked me to get off the boat. The attacker followed me and assaulted me again,” added the westerner.

A medical report showed that the man’s nose was broken and the incident left him with a two per cent disability.

However, Dubai Public Prosecution charged the duo with mutual assault.

The visitor was additionally charged with issuing insults.

He denied both charges.

The Dubai-based defendant failed to appear in the courtroom.

The next hearing will be decided soon.