DUBAI // A man who broke his flatmate's shoulder in a row over his Dh50 share of an iftar bill has been sentenced to one year in prison.
The Criminal Court found QB, a 29-year-old legal researcher from Syria, guilty of assault. It also sentenced his flatmate and compatriot, the 30-year-old salesman AA, to six months in prison - three for assault and another three for making insults. The flatmate was acquitted on a charge of making threats with a knife.
Both will be deported after serving their sentences.
The two men shared an apartment at the Marina with the legal researcher's brother and a fourth man and had all agreed to share the expenses of their Iftar meals 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, when the flatmate failed to pay his Dh50 share of the bill after waking up too late to break his fast with the others.
A fight then ensued in which the legal researcher punched his flatmate, dislocating his shoulder and breaking the bone.
wissa@thenational.ae