Man gets year in jail for sword attack

A man is sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting another man with a sword.

DUBAI // A man who took part in a gang attack on another man with sticks and swords was today sentenced to a year in prison by the Dubai Criminal Court.

The court ruled that SH, a 23-year-old unemployed Emirati was under the influence of alcohol when he took part in the attack on his compatriot, 26-year-old RK. It also fined his co-defendant, HM, a 20-year-old Emirati civil defence officer for consuming alcohol illegally, but cleared him of assault charges.

RK had been talking on his mobile phone near to his home in Al Safa on October 7, 2010, when two Nissan cars with covered licence plates pulled up next to him. About eight men got out of the vehicles carrying sticks, swords and cleavers.

RK ran away but was chased and beaten by the men before being rescued by a passing policeman, the 20-year-old AM, who chased the men off but lost them at a traffic signal. The cars were later caught on speed cameras and experts managed to deduce the missing digits of their licence plates.

In his defence HM said that his car was being used by SH at the time of the attack, but that he did not take part in the assault. He said he confessed to police only after being beaten up.

The court ordered the confiscation of the swords and sticks. None of the other men in the gang were arrested.

RK suffered an injury to his right wrist in the attack that a medical report referred to as constituting a permanent 12 per cent disability.