British man to be deported after mocking and insulting officers

42-year-old man convicted of physical assault, issuing insults and damaging property in Dubai

Al Muraqqabat area in Deira, Dubai. Sarah Dea/The National.

A British man will be deported from the country after he was handed a suspended prison term for choking a Dubai policeman, insulting him and tearing his uniform.

The 42-year-old man denied charges of physical assault, issuing insults and damaging property during a hearing last month but Dubai’s criminal court found him guilty of all charges on Thursday.

Judges heard how on July 1, two Dubai policemen were mocked and assaulted by the accused in Al Muraqqabat area.
The incident happened after a policeman, 25, and a fellow officer responded to a taxi driver's report about his passenger refusing to leave the cab or pay his fare.
When the officers questioned the British man, he began mocking them with his answers.
"I asked him where he lived, he said 'at the police station'. Then I asked him about his name, he responded it was 'hell' then said his name was 'goat'," one officer said.
The accused was taken to a police station, where he resumed mocking officers and calling them animals.
Trying to calm him down, police officers at the station were insulted by the man, who then had to be handcuffed.
"He started resisting and then tore my uniform and choked me with both hands before we were able to restrain him," said the officer.
The court sentenced the accused to a suspended three months prison sentence and he will be deported from the country.