Injured intruder who held man hostage at knifepoint is jailed in Dubai

Tunisian man gets three years after taking Briton hostage, assaulting him and threatening to kill him before also terrorising an Emirati family.

DUBAI // A Tunisian man who held a British manager hostage at knifepoint in his own home was jailed for three years on Wednesday.

M S, 47, said that on October 10 he picked up his newspaper from his apartment doorstep in Al Warqa, and left the door unlocked.

As he sat in his bedroom to read the paper, a man bleeding from the hands and legs appeared in front of him.

M S said: “I asked him what he wanted but he told me to remain quiet. Then he approached me, threatened me and told me to do what he said.

“I just asked him what had happened to him and he said someone had assaulted him and that he was scared.”

The defendant, O A, 21, took his hostage to the kitchen and picked up a knife.

“He said that his life was in danger and that he would kill me if I did not do as I was told,” M S said.

“He placed the knife on my neck, then used it to assault me on the arms, shoulder, and the back of my neck.”

The defendant headbutted M S, cutting his forehead. They went on to the balcony as O A tried to escape.

“He told me to check for him if he could jump out but I told him he couldn’t because we were on the second floor,” the Briton said. “He then made me jump into the balcony of my neighbour, where a maid saw us and ran inside.”

The pair entered an apartment belonging to Emirati R A, 32, who locked himself, his wife and two children into a bedroom. R A then called the police and his brother.

The Tunisian kept his hostage in the kitchen, and then the brother and police arrived.

The brother, H A, 45, said: “He [O A] started saying that the British man had done no harm, then he was convinced to open the door, after which an ambulance treated the assailant and the hostage.”

The defendant was charged at Dubai Criminal Court with locking up a person against his will. Records show O A had been involved in a fight over a woman and was scared after someone had been chasing him. He will be deported after his jail term.