DUBAI // A British tourist who ran naked through the corridors of a building in the Palm Jumeirah while drunk was yesterday jailed for seven months.
R S, 33, went to the reception desk of the building wearing only his underpants, before running naked in a corridor.
When police arrived, it took them 30 minutes to persuade him to come out from behind a gate so they could arrest him.
The Briton was charged with drinking alcohol without a licence and committing an indecent act in public. The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours gave him a one-month sentence for the first charge and six months for the second. R S had admitted drinking alcohol but denied the indecency charge.
The court heard he had been drinking with friends at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi hotel on December 20 last year before returning to his accommodation at the Shoreline on Palm Jumeirah. Nepali security guard S T, 34, testified that he was just starting his shift when he saw the defendant in his underwear, arguing noisily with his colleagues.
He said he tried to help calm down the Briton but the defendant pushed him aside and ran to the second floor of the building.
“I called our control room to contact police and then I followed him to the second floor, where I found he had taken off his underwear and stood there in the brightly lit corridor, completely naked,” the guard said.
He returned to the reception desk to wait for the police, who arrived about half an hour later.
R S said he could not remember much about the incident because he was too drunk. He will be deported after his jail term.
He has 15 days to appeal against the verdict.
salamir@thenational.ae