Sword wielding Dubai man jailed for assaulting mother and taxi driver

Omani attacked taxi driver and his own mother before chasing witnesses with a sword.

DUBAI // A man who got into a fight with a taxi driver before assaulting his mother and chasing a group of female witnesses with a sword was this morning sentenced to six months in prison.

Omani KA, was with his mother and two aunts when he began fighting with a taxi driver at about 1am on July 11 last year. He asked his mother to go to their home and bring his two swords, when she refused he went and got them himself.

KA returned to find the driver had left so he assaulted his mother for failing to restrain him. At that moment he noticed a group of four women who had witnessed the assault.

"He screamed at us," said FM, a 40-year-old Emirati housewife. She said KA insulted her, her two sisters and daughter using foul language and threatened to burn down their houses and cars.

"He ran towards us but one of his swords fell to the ground," said FM.

The women rushed inside FM's house but failed to lock the door. KA started pushing the door and banging on it with his sword as the women held it shut.

"When he failed he threw the sword towards me and hit me in the shoulder," said FM.

People living in the neighborhood saw what was happening and called police who arrested KA.

He was not present at the Dubai Criminal Court to enter a plea last October.

NH, a 22-year-old Emirati, said she reported KA to police when she saw him fighting with the taxi driver and then his own mother. "We all rushed inside being so scared," she said in her testimony.