DUBAI // A passenger who slapped a flight attendant and insulted her when she tried to stop him from making a drunken scene on a flydubai flight to Alexandria in Egypt, has been sentenced to a year in jail by Dubai Criminal Court.
Egyptian marine officer M M, 40, was convicted of assaulting the Moroccan flight attendant, S A, 26, and causing a half-hour-long disturbance. He will be deported after serving his jail term.
He was also convicted of insulting flydubai employees and possessing and consuming alcohol.
Records show that 15 minutes after the plane took off on November 26, the defendant requested ice to consume with alcohol he had brought on board.
The attendant explained to him that he was not allowed to consume the alcohol, because he had bought it from duty free.
The defendant started shouting and insulting the crew, and when they tried to calm him and explain that he was breaking the rules, he ignored them.
“A female passenger who was seated next to him wrote a note asking to have her seat changed because she was frightened of his behaviour, but he stopped her from changing her seat,” S A said.
She then informed the captain of the situation, who told her to try to calm M M down and convince him to hand over the alcohol. But the defendant refused and instead insulted S A.
“He then pushed me to get to the toilet and, when he got out, he slapped me,” S A said.
The attendant said the crew had no choice but to confine the defendant to his seat while the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. M M was detained and sent back to Dubai.
Egyptian flight attendant A M, 26, testified that he heard the passenger insult passengers and crew members in Arabic.
“He was using bad words, saying that he cared about no one and that everyone is under his shoes,” A M said. “I helped restrain him to his seat.”
salamir@thenational.ae
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