One jailed as nightclubber turns deaf after assault

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A student violently battered an inebriated nightclubber and caused him complete hearing loss for bumping into him. He was on Wednesday jailed for one year.

The 21-year-old Arab student punched the Saudi victim so hard that he lost balance and slumped on the ground hitting his head. He suffered a swelling in his brain coupled with health complications, records showed.

A health authority said in a report that the victim sustained a 65 per cent permanent deformity. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the student to one year behind bars. The ruling remains subject to appeal in two weeks.

The 36-year-old victim narrated that he went to a hotel in Al Barsha area at around 1:30am on June 19 last year and consumed alcohol at its nightclub.

He was walking out when his shoulder hit the defendant’s shoulder.

“We bumped into each other at the entrance. I did not intend to knock him. However, he threw a punch in my face and I fell down unconscious,” explained the victim in his complaint to Al Barsha Police Station.

The hotel’s surveillance footage showed the victim coming down the club’s stairs. He and the defendant knocked each other by the shoulder. The defendant took steps back and thrust a punch in the victim’s face.

During police and prosecution interrogations, the defendant contended, “I slapped him and he fell down. I and his brothers tried to give him first aid. He woke up. I asked his brothers to call an ambulance but they refused.”

Prosecutors told the jury that the victim was taken to hospital suffering from a severe head trauma and a haemorrhage then lapsed into a coma. He underwent a delicate brain and nerve surgery to stop the bleeding.

He regained consciousness but lost his hearing and suffered from a lack of balance while walking besides uncontrolled tearing in both eyes. He also lost the natural protection of the brain due to weaknesses in the skull bones.