Dubai: Prosecutors lost their appeal against a holidaymaker who was handed a six-month suspended imprisonment for drinking and beating a policeman after he was disembarked from a plane.
Aviation authorities at the Dubai International Airport had deplaned the 22-year-old Saudi holidaymaker because he was too drunk in December 2017.
When police were summoned and asked to walk the 22-year-old away, the accused turned violent and assaulted the policeman who was accompanying him.
The Saudi also beat the policeman when he tried to put him in detention cell.
In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Saudi defendant of beating the policeman and consuming alcohol.
The defendant appealed his primary ruling before the Appeal Court and pleaded innocent.
Prosecutors also appealed the defendant’s primary sentence and asked the appellate court to stiffen the punishment.
On Sunday, presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed prosecutors’ appeal and that of the defendant and upheld the primary ruling.
The Saudi’s six-month imprisonment remained suspended and his Dh2,000 [for drinking alcohol] was also upheld.
The accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported.
The Saudi contended in court that he was drunk and not aware of what happened.
“I had completely blacked out … did not realise anything around me. When I regained my consciousness inside the detention, I was told that I had assaulted a policeman. I was drunk,” the 22-year-old argued in court.
The policeman said the incident happened after the accused was removed from the plane.
“While I was trying to convince the defendant to walk into the confinement cell, he took me by surprise and punched me. Then when we tried to handcuff the suspect, he resisted ferociously,” the policeman testified.
Medical reports said the policeman sustained a swollen cheek.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.
