Dubai nightclub waiter ‘pushed drunk customer down stairs, killing him’

The victim was getting in the waiter's way as he tried to leave and the shove made the man stagger and fall down stairs to his death, the court heard.

DUBAI // A drunk nightclub customer died after being accidentally pushed down a flight of stairs, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Thursday

The victim, M A, left a nightclub at the Royalton Hotel in Deira at 4am on August 31 last year before ordering a taxi at the reception.

“M A was leaving the bar and he was not walking straight as he was heavily drunk,” said 38-year-old hotel security guard H S, from Egypt.

He walked towards his taxi but stopped at the door. “[A Bangladeshi guard] tried to talk to him to get him to step out of the way and walk out the door but he wasn’t responding,” said H S.

The Egyptian defendant, Y B, tried to leave through the same door but M A was blocking his way so he shoved the victim’s shoulder, but still could not get out, the court heard.

Y B tried to get through the door again but M A pushed him, so the defendant pushed him back and walked out, records show.

Y B continued to the hotel car park without realising his push had caused M A to stagger towards and fall down the stairs, where he landed on his face.

“I headed to him immediately and turned him [around]. His eyes were open but he was unconscious,” said H S, who said he helped the victim sit up but he was still not responding. At this point the guard noticed two injuries on M A’s head and nose, from which he was bleeding.

As Y B left in his car, he noticed a group surrounding M A so he got out of his vehicle and went over

“‘What happened to him?’ Y B asked us,” said the guard. “We told him he fell and he was surprised, saying ‘What, my push made him fall down?’”

The men called for an ambulance, which took M A to hospital, then police apprehended the defendant.

He told police that he did push the victim but it was not a strong push and he did not mean to cause him any harm.

A forensic report showed that M A died of a broken spine.

In court on Thursday Y B denied a charge of assaulting a man’s safety that led to death.

The next hearing is on February 4.