DUBAI // A man's flatmate attacked him with a tool and broke his shoulder in a row over the bill for an iftar, a court heard today.
The Criminal Court heard that AA, a 30-year-old salesman, shared an apartment at the Marina with QB, a 29-year-old legal researcher, QB's brother, and a fourth man and that they had all agreed to share the expenses of Iftars during Ramadan.
However, on more than one occasion the salesman failed to pay his share and matters came to a head on the last day of Ramadan.
"The last time his share was very small, it was just Dh50, and he didn't pay it," testified the legal researcher. He said that all the flatmates broke their fast together, except for the salesman, who woke up late at about 8pm.
"We were all watching TV when he came and pulled the coffee table from under my legs and when my brother asked him why had he done so, he started insulting me and my brother," said the legal researcher.
He said the salesman then retrieved a knife from the kitchen and tried to attack him but that the other flatmates intervened and prevented him from doing so. He claimed there was no further violence. "I did not assault him, not with my hands or anything else," added the legal researcher.
But the salesman said that after he pulled the table away the legal researcher assaulted him. "He got angry and hit me on my shoulder," he said, adding that this was not the first time he had been assaulted by the legal researcher.
The next day the salesman went to Rashid Hospital complaining of pain in his shoulder and told medics that he had been assaulted. They found him to be suffering from a broken and dislocated bone in his left shoulder.
"[This] is an injury that does not happen due to being assaulted with hands - it happens when one is assaulted with a tool or to one who suffers from Osteoporosis," said the police forensics expert SZ, 43.
The forensics expert said that when she examined the salesman he could not remember a tool being used in the assault, but that as he fainted soon after the attack it was hard for him to tell exactly what happened.
Asked for his version of events, the legal researcher's brother, OB, 27, said: "I don't know how [the salesman] got his injury because my brother did not assault him, nor did any of us."
The landlord of the four men has asked them to leave the flat.
Both the legal researcher and the salesman were charged with assault. The salesman was also charged with making threats with a knife and issuing insults. Both men denied all charges.
The next hearing was scheduled for November 18.
salamir@thenational.ae
