DUBAI // Three brothers attacked a pregnant woman and her husband after a disagreement over seating arrangements at the Ikea cafeteria in Dubai Festival City, a court heard yesterday. Emiratis A A, 52, M A, 33, and E A, 43, are charged with assaulting Canadian couple A K, an investor, and his wife, B B, a marketing manager, on June 13 last year, according to public prosecution records.
The pregnant Canadian woman has a permanent injury after the attackers dislocated her jaw, the court heard. A A was also charged with threatening and assaulting a Syrian analyst, Z R, who attempted to intervene and stop the fight, records show. In his evidence, Z R told prosecutors he was having lunch at the cafeteria with a friend when he saw the two families fighting. He said he saw A A hitting the pregnant woman while M A and E A were hitting the husband, who was on the floor.
He said he was punched as he tried to stop one of the men from swinging a chair at the unconscious Canadian man. A K told prosecutors that when he and his pregnant wife went for lunch at the restaurant they sat at the edge of a table for 12. "A A approached us and told us that the table was booked, as his three children were sitting on the other end," A K said. B B told the men she was pregnant and unable to move, but her husband asked her to remain quiet and told the men they would not move and that, if they so wished, they themselves could move to another table while the Canadian couple finished their food, records show.
"I was punched in the back of the head and lost consciousness and then [woke to find] three men kicking me and punching me on the floor and saw my wife bleeding from her legs profusely," he told prosecutors. Security guards had to call police to intervene and stop the fight, according to prosecution records, after which the woman was taken to the emergency section of Rashid Hospital. Court records did not clarify whether the pregnancy was compromised by the assault.
Only E A appeared before the presiding judge, Hamad Abdel Latif, of the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday and denied the charges. The court questioned the absence of his two brothers, but no reason was given. The court will reconvene on October 14. @Email:amustafa@thenational.ae
