Dibba crash: UAE Court clears municipal tanker driver of all charges

Sharjah: A UAE court has acquitted a municipal tanker driver of all charges in a road accident case, concluding a months-long legal battle that progressed through multiple judicial stages before judges ruled that the victim was solely responsible for the collision.

The final verdict, issued on April 27, 2026 by the Khor Fakkan Court of Appeals, overturned earlier convictions and cleared the driver of causing injury through negligence and failing to stop and assist after an accident.

The case began at the Court of First Instance, which in September 2025 convicted the driver and imposed a fine of Dh2,000 after finding him guilty of negligent bodily injury and failing to stop at the scene. Both the prosecution and the defence appealed the ruling, with prosecutors seeking a harsher penalty. The Court of Appeals subsequently increased the sentence to three months in prison. However, the Court of Cassation later overturned that judgment in March 2026, citing gaps in the legal reasoning and ordering a retrial before a different panel, which ultimately led to the acquittal.

According to case records, the accident occurred on September 9, 2025 in Dibba Al Hisn when the driver, operating a municipal sewage suction truck, had just completed work at a residence and began moving the heavy vehicle from a stationary position. At that moment, a 76-year-old pedestrian suddenly emerged from behind a parked vehicle and attempted to cross the road from an unauthorised area, placing himself directly in the path of the truck. Investigations, including police sketches and technical reports, confirmed that the driver’s visibility was obstructed by a blind spot and that the vehicle was moving lawfully at the time.

The defence, led by lawyer Mohammed Al Awami Al Mansoori , played a decisive role in securing the acquittal by demonstrating that the driver had no knowledge that a collision had occurred and by establishing that the victim’s actions were the direct and sole cause of the accident. The defence argued that due to the size, noise and mechanical nature of the heavy vehicle, the driver could not reasonably have detected the impact and only became aware of the incident later when police contacted him for questioning after identifying the vehicle through surveillance cameras.

The defence further argued that the pedestrian failed to exercise due care by crossing from behind a stationary vehicle, failed to use a designated sidewalk located nearby and suddenly moving into the truck’s path, leaving the driver with no opportunity to avoid the collision. The court accepted this argument, concluding that the victim’s conduct alone caused the accident and made it unavoidable.

In its reasoning, the court applied the legal principle of “causation”, concluding that the pedestrian’s actions constituted a serious and unexpected error that broke the causal link between the driver’s conduct and the accident.

Judges determined that the victim’s behaviour was the sole and direct cause of the incident, effectively absorbing any alleged negligence on the part of the driver.

The court further emphasised that criminal convictions must be based on certainty, not doubt, ruling that any uncertainty over whether the driver could have avoided the accident must be interpreted in favour of the accused.

The Khor Fakkan Court of Appeal ultimately cancelled all previous judgments, declaring the driver not guilty of all charges.