Landlord jailed for assaulting tenants and police officers

The man called the police sent to investigate complaints against him 'dogs and animals'

A landlord will spend three months in prison after he was convicted of assaulting and insulting some of his tenants and threatening two police officers.

Police received a report about the behaviour of the 42-year-old Palestinian on September 25 last year from a Moroccan woman who lived in his building. She told police that the defendant had cut the power.

Two officer's went to the man's apartment in Al Barsha and asked him for identification documents, but the landlord refused and spoke to them in a “provocative manner”.

“He said ‘I don't want to give you my ID’, so we asked him to accompany us to the police station. We called our supervising officer who ordered us to have the man handcuffed,” he said.

After refusing to co-operate with police, the landlord began kicking one of the officers and insulted them both, calling them animals.

“He said we were dogs and animals, and said that we will see what he does when he tells Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan [head of general security for Dubai],” said the officer.

The accused then attacked both policemen and tore one of the officers’ pockets while trying to take his gun as the three men fell to the ground.

The officers, a 37-year-old Yemeni and a 21-year-old Emirati, called for backup to help them arrest the defendant.

The landlord was convicted of physical assault, issuing insults, threatening policemen and criminal damage, which he denied in court last February.

The man will be deported after serving his sentence, said Dubai Criminal Court.