Motorist ordered to pay Dh100k blood money

ABU DHABI — A motorist, who was convicted of running over and killing a pedestrian, has been ordered to pay Dh100,000 blood money to the victim’s family.

The Federal Supreme Court upheld the earlier rulings by lower courts that handed down the sentence to the Arab man after he was found guilty of causing death of the Asian worker in a road accident. The court also ordered that the man be jailed for three months.

The court documents stated that the motorist had knocked down the man as he was crossing one of the roads in a northern emirate. The man died on the spot. The incident took place last year when the worker was heading back home.

Investigations by traffic officers said the accident was caused by speeding and inattentiveness on part of the driver and also the pedestrian’s failure to abide by traffic laws. During his trial, the driver denied any wrong doing, claiming that he was abiding by the speed limit and was not driving recklessly. But prosecutors presented evidence to court, showing that the man was driving beyond the acceptable speed limit and was also inattentive. Officers also said the Asian victim tried to cross the road from a nonpedestrian crossing area.

Both the Court of First Instance and the Appeal Court convicted the driver and ordered him to pay blood money of Dh100,000 to the victim’s family. He appealed to the supreme court, which maintained earlier rulings. The judge said that the driver will pay half the blood money to the victim’s family because the pedestrian played a part in the accident.

The judge said the victim’s failure to abide by the traffic law does not relieve the driver from his legal responsibility of paying blood money to the victim’s family for accidentally causing death of their relative.