Wife-beater Brit sentenced in Dubai

CUSTODIAL SENTENCE: The 38-year-old was sentenced to three months in prison. (Getty Images)

A Dubai court has sentenced a 38-year-old Briton to three months in prison for violent abuse causing permant injury and threatening his wife, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Saturday.

The Dubai Appeals Court had confirmed an initial ruling of a lower court, it said.

The court had heard evidence that the Briton threatened to smash his wife's head against a wall until "she was dead" if she ever came near their son or did not leave the family home immediately.

The family's Filipina housemaid said in her testimony that she saw her sponsor leave the house wearing a bloodstained bathrobe after the fight, the paper said.

The wife's statement to the Public Prosecution, read: "You will leave the house within 20 minutes and if you ever come near my son I will keep smashing your head against the wall until you die... I will bang your head against the bed until your bones crack," she quoted her husband as saying.

The accused had earlier admitted fighting with the wife, but denied that he threatened her, the paper added.

The Public Prosecution charged the man with causing his wife a five percent permanent disability.

He was also charged with threatening to kill her.

His wife said he beat and cursed her when he was under the influence of alcohol.

"He beat and kicked me then banged my head on the floor repeatedly... he kept on beating me with a wooden stick until it broke."

"He switched of the air-conditioning and smoked a cigarette before he threatened me," the 43-year-old said.

The Filipina housemaid said: "I woke up about 4am, the lady of the house was crying and her husband was yelling. I heard him threatening her. I saw her leaving in her blood-stained bathrobe."

The Briton confessed to slapping and beating his wife with a stick in addition to throwing objects at her.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Disgrace
Posted by Arjan babbar on Monday 17 November 2008 at 22:09 UAE time


This man should be atleast sentenced to a minimum of 1 year imprisonment and should be beaten up exactly how he treated his wife and deported back.

Secondly please see to it, that its not repeated once he's out of the lock up.

3 months? Dubai, are you kidding?
Posted by joe simm on Monday 17 November 2008 at 20:13 UAE time

Somebody is in jail for poppy seeds & minor amounts of pot and this man disables a woman & threatens her life....And 3 months? Shame

cowardly, drunken wife-beater
Posted by Jeff Smith, London, United Kingdom on Monday 17 November 2008 at 13:34 UAE time


It's an absolute disgrace to hear of this sort of thing happening in an Islamic country such as the U.A.E. This kind of behaviour would cause a national outrage in the UK. 3 months of hard lashing I say. Then be named and shamed.

Wife - Beater
Posted by Tracy Ward, Dubai, U.A.E. on Sunday 16 November 2008 at 18:48 UAE time

Good to see a man actually in court here in Dubai for this dreadful crime, although the punishment is less than puny. I so look forward to the day when verbal abuse is recognised as equally damaging so that the women on whom it has been perpetrated- many of whom suffer in silence or ignorance -can come forward and claim justice.

View all comments (5) >>

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM