Jobless man tries to slit policeman’s throat after bank incident, Dubai court hears

Police identified that a gang of men loitering outside a bank had criminal records, so they approached them and a chase ensued.

DUBAI // An unemployed man with a criminal record stabbed a police officer and tried to slit his throat after being found to be loitering outside a bank.

Emirati officer AA, 29, was on patrol on July 24 last year with colleagues when they spotted a number of men standing in front of a bank in Al Muraqqabat, Deira.

“We identified them as having criminal records, so we suspected them because they were standing watching bank clients,” said the officer. “When we tried to approached them, they ran, so we chased them.”

One of the men resisted AA and then another, when the officer was not looking, came from behind and started strangling him before pulling the knife out and trying to slit his throat.

“He then waved the knife several times, trying to stab me. I avoided him but he managed to stab me in the hand and he kept threatening that he would kill me if he saw me again, then people interfered and restrained him,” said the officer.

Fellow policeman, EK, said that five of the men present had criminal records. “I chased a couple of them and when I returned to AA, I saw the defendant trying to assault AA, who was bleeding from his hand,” he said.

The Afghan defendant, AS, 25, was referred to prosecutors then court, where he was charged with attempted murder and issuing threats to kill. He was not present in court to enter a plea.

The next hearing will be on February 9.