Man ‘who beat wife’ says she was trying to make him divorce new bride

A man accused of assaulting and insulting his wife told judges that the case against him was malicious and was filed by her and her father to force him into divorcing his new bride, a Dubai court heard yesterday.

Prosecutors told Dubai Court of Misdemeanors that on January 17, the 39-year-old Jordanian beat up his wife and insulted her.

The wife, 19, said that the night before, she and her husband went to bed at their home in Al Mamzar and he began complaining about her loud breathing.

“I am pregnant and have difficulty breathing, so he keeps complaining about that and he often insults me using very bad words – he calls me a dog and a poo,” said the wife, who is also Jordanian.

She said she awoke the next morning to noises he was making to disturb her sleep. “As I woke up, he took my mobile phone and was about to leave,” she said. “I stopped him and asked him to leave it because I was alone and an emergency may happen and I don’t have a landline to use.”

She said her husband then choked, slapped and kicked her.

“He didn’t even care that I was 20 weeks pregnant. He hit me all over my body and banged my head against the wall before he left,” she said.

She dressed and went to the police station to report him.

The woman told police that she had been married to the defendant for seven months and that he had been ill-treating her. In court, the accused denied charges of assault and issuing insults.

“It’s not true. My wife and her father are doing this to make me divorce my new wife,” he said.

“On the day she claims I assaulted her, I returned home and didn’t find her, then discovered that she stole Dh50,000 in cash from our house, Dh100,000 worth of gold and electronics worth more than Dh100,000, as well as my cheque book.

“When I asked for them back, she and her father [tried to] blackmail me into divorcing my second wife.”

When he refused, the man said they lodged a report against him at Al Qusais police station accusing him of beating up his wife and insulting her.

“It was her and her father who insulted me and my family.

“I don’t have any problems with my wife but I have workrelated problems with her father and he keeps provoking her against me,” he said.

A verdict is expected later this month.

The husband was accused of choking, slapping and kicking his pregnant, teenage wife