British girl is jailed by Dubai over pals’ brawl she ‘merely witnessed’
Prison hell of tourists after beach prank
A YOUNG British woman has been jailed for three months in Dubai over an assault on a Swedish businessman after a champagne-fuelled lunch.
Asa Hutchinson, 22, was found guilty of assault over a drama in April 2016.
A court heard that a fight broke out after a group of her friends took selfies with the businessman, who was asleep on a sofa in a lobby outside a restaurant.
She was handed the sentence in her absence on Monday because she is now back in England.
She claimed she was a bystander to the attack.
Hutchinson, from Chelmsford, Essex, was part of a group of three men and two women accused of assaulting the 54-year-old Swede, who suffered a broken nose in the brawl.
Kicked
The other members of the group left the country and were not charged.
Dubai Criminal Court had previously heard that Bjorn Roden was asleep on a sofa after a brunch at a restaurant in the Al Fattan Currency House business and retail complex in the International Finance Centre.
He claimed the group took a picture as one of the women posed beside him.
He said he was awoken by a slap to the face and found them surrounding him and laughing. He said he was scratched by the two women and struck in the face before he fell down.
He claimed he was then kicked while on the ground. Security guards at the hotel testified that they saw the picture being taken and watched as the fight ensued and one of the attackers tried to choke Mr Roden.
He alerted police and the group was arrested.
According to Hutchinson, when Mr Roden saw she was a United Arab Emirates resident working for a Dubaibased transportation company, charges were transferred to her.
She claims she was just a bystander and her friends, who fled to the UK after their passports were returned to them, were the culprits.
She said she signed legal papers written in Arabic after her arrest because she was threatened with prison.
Her lawyers confirmed she returned to the UK this week and will be jailed if she returns to Dubai.
She will not be extradited to serve the three-month jail term but will face extradition from neighbouring Gulf countries if she travels there.
Radha Stirling, of international expats justice group Detained in Dubai, said: “Asa’s life and work in Dubai are over and it is unsafe to return. This is a great risk for expats who build lives in the United Arab Emirates.
“At any moment, often for ridiculous reasons, their lives can be turned upside down. They can be jailed or deported. Asa’s experience echoes that of countless others. Suspects are put under extreme pressure to sign ‘confessions’ in Arabic.” entire TWO British women claimed yesterday they were strip-searched and locked in a stinking police cell on a Greek holiday island for three days after a beach prank backfired.
Shona Cox and Vicki Albone, who paid £2,000 for the Corfu holiday, said they hid the clothes of one of a group of young Greek men they met at Issos beach last month while he was swimming.
Police later came to the 20-year-olds’ hotel. They were accused of stealing clothes and a Rolex watch and locked up.
Airport worker Shona, of Saffron Walden, Essex, said: “There was graffiti on the cell walls, urine all over the floor and writing on the walls smeared in blood.”
Shona and assistant teacher Vicki, who were eventually allowed to go home, claim one of the men made up a story about his property being stolen and the two deny ever touching a watch.