By Bassam Za’Za’ gulfnews.com
A taxi driver won a one-year suspended imprisonment after a court convicted him on Wednesday of beating a passenger without intending to kill him.
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 44-year-old Pakistani driver guilty of the beating, which led to Asian passenger H.A.’s death.
Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi, who pronounced the judgment, said the imprisonment will be suspended for a period of three years, during which the crime should not be repeated.
Prosecutors accused 44-year-old M.N. of the fatal beating of H.A. He pleaded not guilty, claiming he did not have any intention of killing the victim.
Forensic doctors testified that the assault’s intensity caused the victim to suffer a cardiac arrest before he died.
A Yemeni policeman, who questioned H.A. 10 minutes prior to his demise, testified: “We were informed about the assault at Al Khaleej Street around 2:15am. When we [my colleague and I] arrived, I saw M.N.’s clothes covered with bloodstains. H.A. sat on the pavement and he was vomiting and suffered a stomachache.
“I called an ambulance. The driver alleged that when he insisted on H.A. to specify his direction, the latter cursed him… so he [M.N.] called the police. H.A. beat him until he bled. M.N. claimed that he pulled over and ordered H.A. to leave the taxi and wait for the police to come,” claimed the policeman.
A Jordanian paramedic, who treated H.A. before he died, testified: “He alleged to me that someone beat him while he was in the taxi… his condition seemed normal and didn’t require to be admitted to hospital. Later police summoned me again to check on H.A. and found him dead in the backseat of a police car.”
The primary judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
