DUBAI // A jobless man is accused of spitting in a policeman’s face before setting a room in a detention centre on fire because he was not allowed to go for a walk.
The 28-year-old Emirati, A M, denies a charge at Dubai Criminal Court of endangering the lives of 90 detainees by setting ablaze Ward 2 of Al Rashidiya detention centre.
He is also accused of damaging the windows of the surveillance camera room, threatening to kill a man, and insulting and assaulting the Emirati policeman.
The accused confessed only to insulting the officer and damaging the windows.
On March 13, A M covered up the camera in his ward before starting the fire.
“I noticed it [the camera] was covered with wet tissues, so I went and saw the defendant. I talked to him and asked him what he wanted,” said the policeman, M H, 26. “He told me he wanted to have a walk outside the ward. I told him that it was not allowed, so he spat in my face, then insulted and screamed at me.”
M H said that as he left for the camera room, he saw the accused lighting up a tissue then using it to set a mattress on fire. “Someone noticed the camera was not covered any more, so he [the defendant] covered it again and then we saw the smoke coming out of that area,” said the officer.
The detainees were taken from their cells when the fire spread but the defendant emerged carrying an iron bar.
“He looked at me and said that he would find out where I live and disfigure and kill me,” said M H.
The accused then smashed the glass windows with the iron bar, causing damage estimated at Dh25,530.
salamir@thenational.ae
