A MIDDLE-AGED man allegedly threatened policemen with a sickle, hit them with a gardening tool and insulted their mothers, a court heard yesterday.
The Bahraini, who works as a driver, is facing charges at the High Criminal Court of assaulting security personnel and cursing them publicly.
On the day of the incident, which took place in April 2022, the defendant’s father called the authorities for help after his son had locked himself in the garage and refused to move.
Three policemen arrived at the defendant’s Demistan house and reportedly broke down the garage door to get to the 44-year-old man whose father claimed was ‘in an unnatural state.’
“We tried to get the defendant to come out, but he started shouting at us,” a policeman told prosecutors.
He recounted how the suspect asked them to ‘get lost’ and yelled: ‘dude, leave now or I’ll curse your mum, you hear me?!’
“The defendant was waving a farming sickle at us from under the gap between the garage door and the ground,” he added.
Once the policemen opened the door from the outside by breaking it, the defendant allegedly assaulted the three men with the sickle, which caused them minor injuries.
A sickle is one of the most common hand tools used for harvesting of crops as well as long grass cutting in the garden. It consists of a curved steel-edged blade fixed to a wooden handle.
However, they soon managed to get him under control and took him to South Hamad Town Police Station.
The second officer told the Public Prosecution that the defendant hit him across the mouth with a gardening tool, which caused him to fall to the ground.
A third said that he suffered from neck and back pain after the struggle with the defendant. Although the injuries were minor, medical reports attached to the court case confirmed that they did occur.
The defendant gave an alternative account of the incident in court. He admitted to prosecutors that he cursed at the policemen, but denied the assault charges.
“One evening, I was laying a plastic pipe attached to a water pump, when I noticed that my brother had broken the pipe, which sparked an argument between us.
“My father then called the police so I hid in the house’s outdoor storage shed and locked it.
“Police came to talk to me from behind the door and one of them cursed at me, so I cursed at him back.”
He claimed that when the officers broke the door they badly injured his right arm, breaking it, and this sent him into a ‘fit of rage’.
The hearing has been adjourned until Tuesday for further defence arguments.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))