Drunk-driver crashes into packed restaurant
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter



Dubai: A drunk-driver who crashed into a fish restaurant packed with diners after consuming an entire bottle of whiskey has been jailed for a month.

The 26-year-old Indian manager had initially driven into a post before crashing into the restaurant. Dubai police officers were in Deira when they spotted the car. It careered into a post before finally landing in the fish restaurant where customers were dining on grilled seafood.

The police patrol called the paramedics. The manager was pulled out from his car and taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He sustained a broken jaw and injuries to his leg. In his statement to police, he said he had drunk a whole bottle of whiskey alone in a bar at a hotel in Deira.

Damage to property

Sometime after midnight he left the hotel and was driving his car back home when he lost control. The car hit the pole and he finally ended up inside the restaurant, he told police. Court records revealed that nobody else was hurt.

The Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution department charged the manager with driving recklessly under the effect of alcohol and damaging public and private property.

The Dubai Court of Appeal sentenced him to a month in jail and seized his driver's licence for six months. The court also ordered him to pay damages for the pole and the damage caused to the restaurant.

The Dubai Court of First Instance had earlier fined him Dh5,000 and seized his licence. However, the Traffic Public Prosecution department appealed the ruling. The Appeal Court replaced the fine with the jail term and confirmed the seizure of the licence.

Man to be deported for drunk driving
By a staff reporter

17 January 2006


ABU DHABI — A non-Muslim Indian expatriate's petition questioning the validity of the Appeal Court's verdict ordering his deportation on charges of drunken driving, on grounds that the ban on alcohol consumption was restricted to Muslims, failed to cut ice with the Supreme Federal Court, which dismissed his appeal.

The Public Prosecution had accused T. Sham of driving a car in Sharjah under the influence of alcohol. Besides, He did not have a liquor permit from the concerned authorities.

The Sharjah Traffic Court slapped him with a Dh200 fine for consuming alcohol, and a similar amount for driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as Dh600 in fines.