DUBAI // A British man who is prison for possession and consumption of drugs was sentenced to a further month in jail for assaulting his friend who he accused of informing on him to the police.
S M, 22, was convicted of attacking his compatriot, A A, 20, in his cell on January 16.
Fellow inmates A A A, 22, and M E, 22, both Emiratis, were also accused of assaulting A A but were both acquitted.
At the court of misdemeanours, A A said in a statement: “While I was asleep in my cell around 2am, the defendant... came to my cell with AAA and M E.
“They confronted me about ratting them out to the police and started hitting me with their fists. I would like to add also that this was not the first time I got attacked. The week before SM attacked me but I didn’t file a complaint as I didn’t want things to escalate more.”
SM admitted assaulting the victim, but denied AAA and M E were involved.
He said: “I attacked AA because the victim insulted me in a previous altercation.” He said the pair have a history of disputes, claiming it was A A who tipped off the police that he was using drugs.
A A A told the policeman that he was watching a movie with the other defendants in a community area of detention facility.
“S M left and went to A A’s cell. Afterwards we heard noise coming from the cell, so me and M E went to the cell and saw the fight between AA and SM and we tried to break it up,” he said.
The victim has already been deported from the country, but it was not mentioned in court why he was not being tried for the original charge of possessing drugs.
As well as his prison sentence, S M was handed a fine of Dh2,000 and a deportion order.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
