Cafe manager cleared of offending, threatening policeman

Dubai: A female cafe manager has been cleared of offending a policeman and prohibiting him from checking the identification cards of her staff following a brawl.

The police were summoned to the cafe in July after a scuffle, but the 36-year-old Ethiopian manager shouted at the policeman and prevented him from asking her staff for their Emirates ID or labour cards.

A police patrol was dispatched to the cafe where the brawl took place before the female manager was said to have shouted at the policeman and threatened to have him fired from the force and deported from the country.

The manager was taken into custody.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the woman of verbally abusing the policeman, preventing him from doing his duty, threatening to have him sacked from Dubai Police and getting him deported.

The Ethiopian woman pleaded not guilty and firmly denied all accusations when she appeared in court.

The policeman testified to prosecutors that the incident happened after they were informed about a heated argument that had taken place at the cafe in Freej Al Murar.

“I went inside the cafe to check what had happened. One of the clients claimed to me that an Ethiopian woman had taken his wallet and mobile phone … the client pointed at a woman [a waitress]. When I asked her for her identification papers, the cafe manager stepped in and told her not to give me the papers. Then I asked the woman to give me her papers, and she refused. She said that she manages the cafe and would not allow me to ask the staff for their identification papers. She yelled offensively and said loudly ‘I will have you fired from the police and get you deported as well’. I turned around and walked away to the police patrol to call for backup and some policewomen to come,” the policeman claimed to prosecutors.

The suspect’s lawyer argued before the court that law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly against his client. He also contended that prosecutors failed to bring in substantiated evidence against his client.

Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.