DUBAI // An airline passenger threatened to kill a flight attendant after she refused to serve him more alcohol, a court heard on Wednesday.
Briton A M, 40, assaulted the attendant before telling her he would chop her into pieces, Dubai Criminal Court was told.
The alleged incident on June 2 took place on board a Dubai-bound Emirates flight from London.
The defendant ordered alcohol before take-off and then again 20 minutes into the journey, said prosecutors.
“He was eating and throwing away food on the floor, then eating off the floor,” said B S, 30, the Indian flight attendant.
“I went to him and asked him to return to his seat and have his meal there. I then brought a garbage bag and started picking up the food he threw away.
“He also threw food on passengers around him and jumped from his seat to the aisle and started making a mess. Some passengers asked to change seats from near him,” she said.
As B S cleaned up after him, she said A M pulled her shirt so hard she felt pain. When she asked him to stop touching her, he got up from his seat and began insulting her. “He stood up and told me I was trash and a sex slave,” she said, adding A M also insulted some of her colleagues.
The verbal abuse continued, with A M threatening to slap B S, kill her and chop her up if she did not provide more alcohol.
Fellow attendant E M, 26, from Egypt said: “I was ordered to attend to the problem and, when I did, I saw him jumping on his seat and pulling B S from her shirt, then insulting her with very bad words.”
After the other members of the crew tried and failed to calm A M down, the court heard, he proceeded to the toilet where he lit a cigarette, setting off the fire alarm and alarming his fellow passengers.
When told he would be met by police on the ground after landing, AM made further insults before falling asleep, court records showed.
He denies all the charges, including one of illegal consumption of alcohol and the case was adjourned until September 24.
salamir@thenational.ae