DUBAI // A drunk nightclub customer died after being accidentally pushed down a flight of stairs, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Thursday
The victim, M A, left a nightclub at the Royalton Hotel in Deira at 4am on August 31 last year before ordering a taxi at the reception.
“M A was leaving the bar and he was not walking straight as he was heavily drunk,” said 38-year-old hotel security guard H S, from Egypt.
He walked towards his taxi but stopped at the door. “[A Bangladeshi guard] tried to talk to him to get him to step out of the way and walk out the door but he wasn’t responding,” said H S.
The Egyptian defendant, Y B, tried to leave through the same door but M A was blocking his way so he shoved the victim’s shoulder, but still could not get out, the court heard.
Y B tried to get through the door again but M A pushed him, so the defendant pushed him back and walked out, records show.
Y B continued to the hotel car park without realising his push had caused M A to stagger towards and fall down the stairs, where he landed on his face.
“I headed to him immediately and turned him [around]. His eyes were open but he was unconscious,” said H S, who said he helped the victim sit up but he was still not responding. At this point the guard noticed two injuries on M A’s head and nose, from which he was bleeding.
As Y B left in his car, he noticed a group surrounding M A so he got out of his vehicle and went over
“‘What happened to him?’ Y B asked us,” said the guard. “We told him he fell and he was surprised, saying ‘What, my push made him fall down?’”
The men called for an ambulance, which took M A to hospital, then police apprehended the defendant.
He told police that he did push the victim but it was not a strong push and he did not mean to cause him any harm.
A forensic report showed that M A died of a broken spine.
In court on Thursday Y B denied a charge of assaulting a man’s safety that led to death.
The next hearing is on February 4.
salamir@thenational.ae
