DUBAI // A drunk Briton who was eating food off the floor of an Emirates flight to Dubai and then threatened to kill a flight attendant if she did not serve him more alcohol is to have his mental health assessed.
Dubai Criminal Court ordered a medical committee to examine A M, 42, after the incident on a flight from London on June 2 in which he told the woman that she was “trash” and that he would chop her into pieces.
The defendant ordered alcohol before take off and then again 20 minutes into the journey, said prosecutors.
“He was eating and throwing away food on the floor, then eating off the floor,” said the Indian flight attendant, B S, 30.
“I went to him and asked him to return to his seat and have his meal there. I then brought a garbage bag and started picking up the food he threw away.
“He also threw food on passengers around him and jumped from his seat to the aisle and started making a mess. Some passengers asked to change seats from near him.”
As she cleaned up after him, B S said the defendant aggressively pulled her shirt. When she asked him to stop touching her, he got up from his seat and began a torrent of insults.
“He stood up and told me I was trash, a sex slave and a b****,” she said, adding that the Briton also insulted some of her colleagues.
He then threatened to slap B S, kill her and chop her up if she did not give him more alcohol.
Fellow flight attendant, E M, 26, from Egypt said: “I was ordered to attend to the problem and, when I did, I saw him jumping on his seat and pulling B S from her shirt, then insulting her with very bad words.”
After the other members of the crew tried and failed to calm A M down, he proceeded to the toilet where he lit a cigarette, setting off the fire alarm and scaring his fellow passengers, the court heard.
The unruly passenger fell asleep shortly before the plane landed in Dubai, and then proceeded to also insult the waiting police, court records showed.
The defendant denied all the charges against him, including one of illegal consumption of alcohol.
The court was due to issue a verdict on Wednesday morning but instead ordered the mental health check.
salamir@thenational.ae
