Dubai: A couple have been jailed for one year for kissing in public despite the man claiming he gave his female friend CPR when she suffered an asthma attack.
The 28-year-old Indian man claims he was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when he kissed his asthmatic 25-year-old Filipina girlfriend in a lifeguard tower where an Emirati woman said she saw them cuddling and kissing.
The Dubai Misdemeanour Court convicted the defendants of committing a lewd act in public.
They were also fined Dh1,000 each for consuming alcohol.
“The couple will be deported following the completion of their punishment,” said the presiding judge.
Records said the Emirati spotted the couple in an intimate situation on the wooden tower at Jumeirah Open Beach on December 17.
The defendants pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
“That was absolutely untrue. We did not kiss. My colleague suffered an asthma while we were seated there and I performed CPR on her,” argued the worker.
The Filipina contended that she suffered a sudden asthma before her colleague offered her CPR.
“We did not kiss or hug,” she argued.
CPR is an emergency procedure, performed in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person in cardiac arrest.
The defendants admitted having alcohol.
Police records said one of the Emirati family’s children rushed to his mother and told her that a couple was fighting on the tower.
“I was shocked when I spotted them seated in a position that looked like they were making love. They were indulged in a very intimate situation… but they were not naked. Immediately I called 999,” the woman claimed.
The couple were arrested and taken into custody.
The primary judgment remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
