Nightclub tussle leads to charges

DUBAI // A nightclub waitress had her hair grabbed and her face slapped by an engineer after she told him and his twin sons to leave, a court heard.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours heard that on October 28, HR, 55, and his sons ER and MR, 22, insulted NS, a South African waitress at the Marion Byblos Hotel's nightclub, and two of the club's security guards, MA, 31, and AM, 29. All three suspects were charged with illegal consumption of alcohol; HR alone faces an assault charge.

HR denies insulting or assaulting the waitress, but admits drinking alcohol without a licence. He told investigators that the nightclub's security staff tried to eject him and his sons after he pushed a man who had bumped into him.

AM, a security guard from Nigeria, said that he was called by the waitress to take three customers out of the club after they refused to leave when she asked them to. The security guard said that the father and his sons refused his request for them to leave. .

Asked why his accusers would make up such a story, HR claimed they were trying to get money out of him.

HR was celebrating with colleagues at the time of the incident. One of the women with him said: "These are all claims, they did not insult or assault anybody."

salamir@thenational.ae