Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal ordered stay of execution for the 6-month jail term issued by the Court of First Instance against a GCC citizen, 32, on charges of slapping an Asian nurse in the face and causing a permanent disability in her body.

The case dates back to last September 2020 when a nurse, 43, working in a government hospital filed a complaint in which she stated she had been assaulted by a GCC customer.

She explained that while she was doing her job, the customer asked her if she had recently transferred a patient to the hospital. When she answered yes, the customer slapped her in the face and her colleagues interfered to bring the customer under control, she added. A complaint was filed accordingly.

According to the forensic medicine report, the assault caused a permanent disability to the acoustic nerve of the nurse’s left ear, coupled with persistent tinnitus. The report estimated the disability resulting from the assault at 2 per cent.

The GCC customer admitted in the investigations that he was shocked at the news that his father sustained an injury in the neck that led to his death. He added that the shock coupled with the negligence of the paramedics that his sister told him about led him to go the hospital and slap the nurse because he believed that it was she who failed to properly transfer his father to the hospital and consequently caused his death.

The Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to six months in jail and the Court of Appeal commuted the sentence to stay of execution.