DUBAI // A man who was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for attacking his neighbour and his disabled child with a meat cleaver had his sentence reduced to three years in a retrial.
Emirati A H, 24, was convicted of charges of assaulting the safety of A M and his son S M and leaving them with permanent disabilities. He did not enter a plea at his first hearing last year and was sentenced in absentia.
UAE law states that someone sentenced when they are not present can be granted a retrial.
Prosecutors said that on November 10, 2012, the mentally challenged child knocked on the door of his attacker and walked in uninvited.
The boy’s father, A M, came to take his son and apologised to the defendant’s family. But as the father and son were walking out of the house, the defendant arrived in a Nissan Maxima.
He chased A M with the cleaver and struck the father on the hand, causing him a severe cut that nearly cut off his hand.
The Emirati attacker then headed to the victim’s house where he also hit the child with the cleaver on his left arm.
The father was left with a 25 per cent permanent disability, while the son suffered a 2 per cent permanent disability.
A police officer nearby saw the incident and called for back-up, who arrived and took the injured to hospital.
salamir@thenational.ae
