DUBAI // A man spat at his mother-in-law and threw a rubbish bin at her, a court heard.
Emirati A A, 46, was arguing with his Russian wife at their apartment in Al Nahda when his mother-in-law H Z, 60, tried to intervene, prosecutors said.
“I heard them arguing and went to check on them,” the mother-in-law said. “When I saw he was trying to assault my daughter I tried to stop him but he grabbed a garbage bin and tried to hit me with it.
“When I grabbed his gutra he pushed me to the wall and hit me on the chest then spat on my face and swore at me.”
The mother-in-law’s arm was fractured in the row, at about 8.30pm on September 17.
The husband denied assaulting his mother-in-law and said he was talking to his wife when her mother kicked him out and insulted him.
“She said I was not a human but an animal and that I was an infidel,” he said. “I said I would call police, so my wife came out holding a stick and threatened to hit me with it.”
He said he did not report the insult because they already had problems in their relationship.
“I just want to be allowed into my own apartment,” he said.
His wife, M Z, 35, backed up her mother’s version of events.
“He started screaming at me and swearing at me. Then my mother came and he assaulted and insulted her,” she said.
At the Misdemeanours Court the Emirati denied charges of insulting and assaulting his mother-in-law, saying he did “not even go near” the woman.
A verdict is expected on November 26.
salamir@thenational.ae