Man who pulled ex-wife's arm is fined Dh2,000 and handed suspended prison sentence

Arm grab was attack, court rules.

ABU DHABI // A physical attack in which the victim is not harmed may still be considered an assault, the Federal Supreme Court has ruled.

A man who grabbed and pulled his ex-wife's arm was fined Dh2,000 and given a suspended three-month jail sentence. The court ruled that I A, an Arab, had carried out a "simple physical attack" on his ex-wife in January 2012.

The verdict is the final ruling in a case that has bounced between courts since the man was acquitted by the First Instance Court in Sharjah.

The Appeals Court reversed the acquittal and sentenced the man to a Dh2,000 fine and three months in prison, suspended for three years.

The man then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, arguing that the verdict took only his ex-wife's statements into account. He also argued she contradicted herself in her account.

He said his wife claimed he had punched her on the neck, but the medical report had shown no sign of injury there.

The Federal Supreme Court ruled that, in law, cases of physical attack did not need to leave long-term effects to be prosecuted. It added that the court had the right to base its verdict on the woman's account.