A civil engineer has denied assaulting a man and causing him a permanent disability by punching him in the face.
Dubai Criminal Court was told that on March 10 this year, the British defendant, 29, was dining with a woman at a restaurant in the Palm Jumeirah when there was a confrontation between the woman and a Lebanese man.
"I was with my wife, children and our maid dining at the restaurant when our maid was denied the use of the toilet by the cleaner. I went to talk to the cleaner, but then a British woman came out and started questioning why I was addressing the cleaner. When she saw my wife, she asked her how she could allow me to talk to strange women," said the plaintiff, a 37-year-old sales manager.
He said he and his wife dropped the matter, but a few minutes later as he was returning inside the restaurant from a cigarette break, he passed the British woman's table where she was sitting with the defendant.
"She pointed at me as I passed by and all of a sudden the man in her company got up and punched me. I don't remember anything else because I passed out," he said.
It was not clear who contacted the police.
Prosecutors said a medical report stated that the victim suffered fractures in the bones around his eye and nose that required metal plates. The man now suffers from numbness in the left side of his face and difficulty breathing, which doctors estimated as a 5 per cent permanent disability.
In court this Tuesday morning, the defendant denied a charge of physical assault that caused a permanent disability. The court referred the charge sheet to prosecutors to further explain the nature of the disability and attach a copy of the medical report.
The next hearing will be on January 16.
