Marine officer ‘slapped’ flight attendant on Fly Dubai flight, court hears

DUBAI // A passenger slapped an air hostess and insulted her when she tried to stop him making a drunken scene aboard a Fly Dubai flight to Alexandria, Egypt, the Dubai Criminal Court heard on Sunday.

Egyptian M M, 40, a marine officer, is charged with assaulting the crew member and causing a half-hour-long disturbance.

He is also charged with insulting Fly Dubai employees and with possessing and consuming alcohol.

Records showed that 15 minutes after the plane took off on November 26, the defendant requested ice to consume with alcohol he had taken on board the plane.

The attendant explained to M M that he was not allowed to consume the alcohol, which he had purchased from duty free.

He allegedly started screaming and insulting the crew, records show.

When members of the crew tried to calm him and explain he was breaking the rules, he allegedly ignored them.

“A female passenger who was seated next to him wrote a note asking to have her seat changed because she was frightened of his behaviour, but he stopped her from changing her seat,” said Moroccan flight attendant S A, 26.

S A informed the captain of the situation, who told her to try to calm M M down and convince him to hand over the alcohol. M M refused and insulted S A.

“He then pushed me to get to the toilet and when he got out he slapped me,” said S A.

The attendant said that the crew then had no choice but to confine M M to his seat. The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. M M was detained and sent back to Dubai.

Egyptian male flight attendant A M, 26, testified that he heard the passenger insult passengers and crew members in Arabic.

“He was using bad words saying that he cared about no-one and that everyone is under his shoes,” said A M. “I helped restrain him to his seat.”

The hearing will reconvene on February 22.

salamir@thenational.ae