20200918 Dubai Courts
The Dubai Courts. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Dubai: A man has been sentenced to six months in jail in Dubai for running over a security guard after a dispute with his former girlfriend.

Dubai Public Prosecution charged the defendant with unintentionally causing death, driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and illegally consuming alcohol. He was sentenced to six months in jail, fined Dh50,000 and his driving licence was cancelled for one year. Additionally, the court ordered the defendant to pay Dh100,000 in blood money to the victim’s family.

According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, the defendant was in the Bur Dubai area to collect a mobile phone from his former girlfriend after she broke off with him. The duo was inside the defendant’s car, just outside the woman’s residence, when she opened the door and tried to get off the car after the defendant tried to assault her over a heated argument. She asked for help from the building’s security guard to call the police. The security guard then tried to stop the car and held the car’s door, but the defendant drove away, without realising that the security guard had fallen under the car. The vehicle ran over him, causing his death.

A policeman testified that after he reached the spot, he saw the defendant in front of the building, near the body of the security guard. “He told me that he had accidentally run-over the victim after a dispute with his girlfriend. He kept driving while the victim was holding on to the car door,” said the policeman on record.

The defendant was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, police said.

The woman claimed that she knew the defendant for four months and was about to marry her before problems sparked between them. “I wanted to end the relationship, but he insisted on meeting me to take back the mobile phone that he had gifted me. I was inside his car when we had an argument and he tried to assault me. I asked for help from the victim [the security guard] and told him to call the police,” the woman said on record.

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“The victim was holding on to the door of the car and running along with the moving vehicle. I asked him to stop, but he didn’t. The victim then fell off and I saw him lying on the ground, bleeding from the head.”

A medical report revealed that the victim had sustained severe head injuries, causing his death.