Moroccan man charged with stealing taxi and assaulting police

Incident happened after the defendant spent the evening drinking

A Moroccan man has been charged with stealing a taxi, crashing it into a villa and then assaulting two police officers.

The incident happened after the accused, 24, spent the evening drinking before calling a cab to take him to the Mirdif area of Dubai.

Once there, the court heard how the defendant jumped out of the taxi to get money to pay for his fare.

But when he failed to return, his Pakistani driver went looking for him, leaving his car keys in the ignition.

Moments later the accused sped off in the vehicle before smashing into the entrance of a nearby villa.

“I dropped him off and he asked me to wait for him so he could get money to pay me,” the taxi driver told the hearing.

“But he didn’t return after entering the house. Then I saw him near the villa using a bicycle to smash a parked Toyota car.”

Dubai Criminal Court heard how the defendant had hailed a taxi in the early hours of September 13 last year.

After being dropped off and then confronted by his driver, he jumped into the cab and sped off. After crashing the vehicle he then assaulted two police officers called to arrest him.

“He repeatedly kicked the back door of our police patrol vehicle as we were trying to get him inside it,” said a policeman."

The defendant was charged with assault, drink driving and damaging property. “I can’t recall what happened that day,” he told the court.

A verdict is expected on February 19.