7 months for police assault

South African pushed police officer to the ground.

Salam Al Amir

DUBAI // A drunk recruitment officer who insulted and assaulted a policeman has been sentenced to seven months in prison.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours jailed the 33-year-old South African in absentia after he failed to appear in court to enter a plea.

The court heard that NK left a bar in the Atlantis hotel in the early hours of March 10 after drinking seven glasses of whisky.

He tried to stop a bus to take him home but became involved in a dispute with the bus driver, who would not let him board. He then caused a traffic jam in front of the hotel's entrance.

"He wanted me to stop in an undesignated area," the bus driver told prosecutors.

Hotel security called MH, an Emirati policeman, who spoke to NK and asked him to step aside and let traffic pass.

"I convinced him and he stepped away but moments later, I felt a punch on my back and when I turned, the defendant was standing behind me and pushed me with both hands to the ground," said the policeman.

NK also insulted him with inappropriate language. He was arrested on the spot.

The defendant denied the charges during interrogation and said he didn't remember insulting or assaulting the policeman because he was drunk.

According to the records, he said: "I waved at a bus but the driver ignored me." He added that he remembered the policeman coming to talk to him and said that he had laid his arm on the policeman's shoulder.