DUBAI // A man accused of assaulting someone with a meat cleaver in 2010 said the judge had been “sleeping for four years”, using the time since the alleged offence as a reason for not remembering it.
At Dubai Criminal Court on Tuesday, Emirati MA, 34, told the presiding judge: “You have been sleeping for four years and now you just remembered to ask me about something so old.
“I don’t even remember what I ate last night for dinner, and I don’t know the man you say I assaulted.”
Prosecutors said MA met his victim, MAA, inside Al Qusais detention centre in 2006, where they were both detained in relation to an assault case.
“We weren’t on good terms at that time and, in 2010, we met in detention again and had a fight there,” said the victim.
Five months after he got out of detention, MAA was stepping out of a supermarket petrol station in Al Muhaisnah when he was struck with a cleaver on the head, right arm, abdomen and other areas.
“I tried to defend myself and held the cleaver from its sharp end and injured myself in the process,” said MAA, a 29-year-old Emirati.
He added that there were five blows, after which he collapsed and woke up in a hospital.
He underwent several procedures to save his life but he suffered a 15 per cent permanent disability due to the near-fatal attack.
A verdict is expected on February 16.
salamir@thenational.ae
