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Trader jailed for assaulting bookkeeper

A 47-year-old Iraqi trader was sentenced to three-month imprisonment by the Court of First Instance on Sunday for assaulting a compatriot man.

The court bench, presided by Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi, ordered the defendant to pay Dh21,000 in temporary civil damages as well as the lawsuit fees, including Dh1,000 lawyer fees. The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days at the Court of Appeal.

According to prosecution records, the assault led to a disability of 5 per cent on the complainant’s right wrist.

The complainant, a 57-year-old book keeper, said during investigation that the defendant assaulted him when he went to the latter’s office in Rafaa to collect the loan amount the latter had to pay him in April last year. He entered the defendant’s office and showed him the bill that was due but the accused refused to pay and instead got angry and started shouting. The complainant reminded the defendant that he had refused to repay him two months back when he had come to collect the payment.

As the complainant walked towards the lift to leave, he heard the defendant shouting and coming towards him. The defendant pushed and knocked him down. He fell down on his hand and felt that it got fractured. He told the accused about that and the latter pulled his hand forward so it would regain its natural position. The defendant told him to go and not return.

The complainant sought the help of a friend whose office was nearby to take him to a hospital.

According to the forensic medicine report, the complainant was left with a permanent moving disability on his right wrist as a result of the assault. Part of the evidence is a hospital medical report stating that the complainant had undergone a surgery for a hand fracture in April last year.

One week after the incident, an Iraqi businessman said that he was at the complainant’s office when the defendant came there with two men. The defendant tried to work things out with the complainant’s brother and said that he did not mean to push the complainant and make him fall. He said he was willing to pay all the treatment costs.