DUBAI // An unemployed man arrested on charges of running a brothel and overstaying his visa attempted to escape detention by breaking through the wooden wall of a toilet, a court heard this morning.
The Indian RS, 30, was charged in the Court of Misdemeanours with causing Dh500 in damage to public property.
Prosecutors said RS was arrested in June on the brothel charges. ME, a police officer, testified that he defendant asked to use the toilet, which was added to the building and attached to the station's detention centre.
Minutes after RS entered, ME said, he heard knocking on the wall of the toilet. He opened the door and saw RS had made an opening in the wall by pulling away parts of the toilet.
RS, however, said he entered the toilet about 1.30am on June 21 after becoming frightened by the other detainees. He said he simply locked himself inside on accident and started knocking gently to draw the guard's attention.
"When no one heard me, I broke the wall to get out of the toilet," he said in records.
A verdict is expected on October 26.
salamir@thenational.ae