Diner punched cook after meal, court hears

Man and friends trashed restaurant, then attacked staff, prosecutors say.

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DUBAI // A 37-year-old Indian cook suffered a broken jaw when five people assaulted him after eating at the restaurant where he was working in Deira, a court heard yesterday.

S?R, 25, also an Indian, was jailed for three months at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance for punching the cook on the chin.

He denied the charge, and said the cook attacked him first.

S?R and four others who were not identified in records visited the Reef Restaurant in Deira on June 24 last year.

They ordered dinner and after eating it, they started a fight with the waiters. The noise brought the cook, N?T, out of the kitchen to find out what the problem was.

N?T told prosecutors that when he went out, S?R held him by the neck and pushed him towards a glass wall, then threw a punch.

N?T said he suspected the men had been drinking alcohol, based on their behaviour when they arrived at the restaurant, records showed.

The forensic report confirmed the chef suffered a broken jaw, leaving him with a five per cent disability.

S?R was sentenced to three months in prison for assault and will be referred to the misdemeanours court on the charge of illegal consumption of alcohol.

The other men were not charged.

salamir@thenational.ae