Brothers jailed over brawl in restaurant

Defendants sentenced after court convicts them of assaulting, cursing friends in public

Legal and Court Correspondent

Two brothers have been jailed for three months each for punching a manager and breaking his tooth, assaulting his friend and cursing them in public.

The Portuguese manager and his wife went out on a Friday afternoon with an Indian friend and his wife at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in May.

The two couples were seated at a restaurant’s waiting area when they saw two British brothers, 30 and 27, and one of them pointed at the Indian’s female friend, who was accompanying the couples.

The British brother, who pointed his finger, spoke in an inappropriate manner about the female friend, and his attitude coerced the Indian man to confront him.

The Portuguese manager and his Indian friend brawled with the two brothers, who assaulted the men and cursed them. One of the brothers punched the Portuguese and broke his tooth, while the other brother injured the Indian on his neck. The Britons’ father stepped in and refrained his sons from assaulting the victims who called the police.

Yesterday, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the Briton brothers in absentia to three months in jail for assaulting the Portuguese and the Indian, cursing and offending them in public.

Presiding judge Habib Awad said the defendants will be deported. The Britons were found guilty of causing a three per cent permanent disability to the Portuguese.

“I saw one of the brothers pointing at my friend and speaking provocatively. When I told him what he was doing was not right, he assaulted me. They cursed us as well. Their father then intervened and asked us to excuse his sons, but when my Portuguese friend tried to call the police, the 27-year-old brother punched him and broke his tooth,” the Indian man testified.