Cleaner rammed air hose into colleague 'as a joke', Dubai court hears

Man had to have part of his colon removed after colleague forced a compressed air hose into his rectum, court hears.

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DUBAI // A man spent six days in hospital and had to have part of his colon surgically removed after a workmate rammed the nozzle of a compressed-air hose into his rectum and pulled the trigger, a court heard today.

"He was holding the hose to clean the floor and when I passed in front of him he forced it into me," PE, 46, a cleaner from India, told prosecutors.

The blast of air from the spray-cleaning device caused his stomach to ache and his face to bloat. "I screamed and fell to the ground … workers gathered around me as I couldn't speak."

His supervisors called an ambulance and he was rushed to hospital for surgery, the Criminal Court was told.

YM, 29, from Bangladesh, denies assaulting his colleague in Al Quoz last October. He told police he did not force the hose into the man's body but had merely waved it at his clothes, and insisted the victim did not fall to the ground in pain but walked off normally.

However, a police witness said that during interrogation the accused had admitted to forcing the hose into the cleaner's body, but claimed he meant only to joke with him, not hurt him.

A verdict is expected on January 30.