Driver insults, knocks out cabbie in Dubai

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

An inebriated driver hailed a cab, assaulted the cabbie and pelted him with an obscene insult. The Dubai Criminal Court imprisoned and fined him on Thursday.

The Asian defendant, 32, threw a punch in the face of the Indian cabbie, 49, and dislocated his upper front teeth. The injury took more than 20 days to heal. He sustained a 3 per cent permanent deformity.

He yelled an insult targeting the cabbie’s mother.  He was inebriated. The court imprisoned him for six months plus deportation over the assault and insult. It fined him Dhs2, 000 over illicit alcohol consumption.

During prosecution interrogations, he acknowledged having punched the cabbie in the face but contended that he was under the influence of alcohol.

The cabbie complained that the driver stopped him and entered the cab at around 8:30pm on Mar.29. “He told me he was heading to Al Muteena area. Before I could drive, he suddenly insulted me.

“I told him I would contact the police. I told him to get out. We disputed. He punched me in the face, breaking my front teeth. Pedestrians helped restrain him. We realised he was under alcohol influence.”

In another assault case, an Arab employee knocked out an Emirati student during a heated argument outside a Dubai hotel. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him to six months behind bars.

The defendant, 24, battered the victim, 28, and he slumped hitting his head on the ground. His senses of smell and taste got weakened. Doctors described it as a 5 per cent permanent deformity. The victim said, “I walked out of the hotel and found the defendant with two men. One insulted me and another slapped me in the face. The defendant struck my head with a sharp tool. I collapsed.”

The defendant on being questioned argued, “I had found the victim disputing with several men. When I stepped in to solve the matter, he insulted me. I punched him on the head.”