Woman hit by husband in front of children in Abu Dhabi gets Dh20,000 compensation

A woman hit by her husband in front of her children has been granted Dh20,000 in compensation.

ABU DHABI // A woman who was hit by her husband in front of her children has been granted Dh20,000 compensation for her humiliation.

The award by the Civil Appeals Court is higher than the Dh3,000 awarded to the woman by the First Instance Court, but less than the Dh70,000 she was seeking.

In appealing against her initial award, she argued that following the assault she could not practice her job as a doctor for 20 days. She also argued her reputation had been ruined both with her children who witnessed the assault and her colleagues, who witnessed her injuries.

She said that as a professional doctor who came from a family with a good reputation and worked at a well-known hospital, the assault had affected her particularly badly, causing her extreme humiliation in front of her pharmacist daughter and student son.

She divorced her husband after the assault.

Her former husband had also appealed against the initial ruling. He claimed she had injured herself to frame him, and noted that the medical report detailing her injuries was issued by the hospital she works for.

He argued that a further medical examination should have been undertaken by an objective source. He also denied signing a confession that was heard by the First Instance Court, saying the court cleric signed the confession by mistake.

The Civil Appeals Court noted that the woman had to undergo physiotherapy as a result of the assault and accepted she had suffered additional psychological pain. In addition to awarding her Dh20,000 it ordered her ex-husband to pay Dh500 for lawyers' fees.