Five cleared of beating supervisor

Five men charged with beating a labour camp supervisor have been found not guilty by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance.

DUBAI // Five men charged with beating the supervisor of their labour camp have been found not guilty by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance. The defendants, all from Bangladesh, were arrested after the supervisor, RL, was attacked by men wielding wooden planks. Repeated blows left him permanently disabled with 20 per cent loss of mobility, according to court documents. The fight happened after another Bangladeshi man at the camp told the men - AH, SS, SF, MJ, all 24, and SB, 28 - that he had been molested and propositioned by a Pakistani watchman following an altercation earlier in the day.

The men blamed the supervisor, also a Pakistani national, for the incident and, at about 8.30pm, went to his office and accused him of supporting the watchman and helping him to escape, the court was told. RL denied any involvement but, "after that, without saying a word, they started to beat me with sticks and the assault lasted for about 15 minutes", he said. The attack ended when other Pakistani workers at the camp came to the supervisor's aid, restrained his assailants and called the police.

The Pakistani watchman, FA, 31, told the prosecutors the men initially went after him but that he managed to get away and hide. FA testified that from his hiding place he watched the men ransack the supervisor's office. He said the defendant MJ dragged the man from the office and the others beat him with thick planks of wood. The five accused were found not guilty after the court ruled there was insufficient evidence.

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