Wife not guilty of assault that led to husband’s death

Wife walks free but the husband's friend has six-month sentence for assault upheld.

DUBAI // A wife has been acquitted of causing her husband’s death after he and a friend were drinking alcohol at their home.

The 37-year-old Pakistani wife and the friend were charged with physically assaulting the husband, causing him internal bleeding that led to his death, but both were found not guilty on Wednesday.

However, the friend was convicted of the lesser charge of assault and was sentenced to six months in jail and fined Dh5,000.

On October 30 last year, the Pakistani husband, whose age was not given, called his countryman, 47, and asked him to bring alcohol to his home so they could drink together.

The friend arrived to the home in Hor Al Anz at about 6pm and the pair drank for hours.

The mother of 5 said her husband asked that she prepare dinner but she was aware that he was severely drunk.

“I heard them screaming at each other but this is usual when he gets drunk. I checked on them and I saw his friend was trying to calm him down,” said the woman.

She said at about 10.30pm she saw the friend go to the toilet and her husband followed him.

“He was furious but he is in this state every time he gets drunk. His friend got out of the toilet and tried to calm him down then took him to the living room and I went to the roof, where I stayed alone for about an hour,” said the wife.

When she came back down she said she found her husband lying on his back and he had urinated in his trousers. She thought he was sleeping so she slept next to him. “But then I noticed that his body was cold,” said the wife, who called a taxi driver friend and asked him to take them to hospital.

“I had customers and, after I dropped them off, I headed to her place about 20 minutes after her call,” said the Pakistani driver, 39.

When he saw the man’s body and found no pulse, he had the wife call police.

“The following day I learnt that the man had died and his wife called me to bail her out of prison after she was taken into custody,” said the driver.

A medical report said the victim’s body had signs of an assault, as several bruises and scratches were found in different areas, but it also stated that his death was a result of internal bleeding, triggered by a physical assault.

The friend was arrested in Sharjah. He and the woman were both charged with physical assault that led to death, which both denied in court in March.

“He is my husband and I have five children from him, I could never assault him,” the wife told judges.

The friend confessed to an additional charge of consuming alcohol without a licence, to which he was fined Dh2,000.

He appealed his sentence but Dubai Court of Appeal upheld it. He will be deported after serving his jail term.