Man jailed for beating up drunk Indian claims he was victim of attempted car theft

A 33-year-old Pakistani driver who got into a fight with a drunk Indian man at labour accommodation and caused him a permanent disability was sentenced to three months in jail.

The defendant had denied a physical assault charge and causing a 25 per cent disability, telling Dubai Criminal Court in April that he was the victim as the Indian attacked him as he tried to stop the drunk man from stealing his car.

“He was trying to steal my car, then when I caught him he attacked me and I had to defend myself, after which he ran [off] with some of my belongings that he stole. It’s ironic that I was the one who ended up in jail,” said the defendant in court.

The driver and the Indian, 48, were both charged with insulting each other at the Court of Misdemeanours, while the latter alone was charged with consuming alcohol without a licence.

The incident happened on May 15 last year at labour accommodation in Jebel Ali.

“I went to check on the incident when I was informed of it and found the Indian drunk and the driver pulling him and punching him on the head,” said a Pakistani security guard, 26.

The guard called police,who arrived with an ambulance that took the Indian to Rashid Hospital.

No details of the nature of the man’s disability were made available, neither was information on whether the Indian was convicted and sentenced for issuing insults and drinking alcohol.

Your rights as an employee

The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.

The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.

If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.

Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.

The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.

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Name: Almnssa

Started: August 2020

Founder: Areej Selmi

Based: Gaza

Sectors: Internet, e-commerce

Investments: Grants/private funding

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: HyperSpace

Started: 2020

Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Entertainment

Number of staff: 210

Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: ARDH Collective

Based: Dubai

Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi

Sector: Sustainability

Total funding: Self funded

Number of employees: 4

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