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A DRUNK man who harassed a female lawyer at a sushi restaurant, groped her friend and then attacked policemen who came to the scene has been sentenced to a year in jail.
His friend and co-defendant was acquitted of assault and harassment charges, but was sentenced to two months in jail for public intoxication and disruption.
The Saudi nationals, aged 26 and 22, admitted to being drunk at the time of the incident, but denied the assault.
The incident took place in October last year when the drunken duo approached the women at a Japanese-themed bar in Seef and allegedly started harassing them.
“The fight broke out when the first defendant touched my butt,” the friend and 41-year-old Bahraini government employee earlier testified.
The lawyer also gave her side of the story.
“We were at the restaurant near the bathrooms when I felt someone push me from behind,” the 31-year-old attorney told the prosecutors.
“I was so enraged that I pushed him back. My friend then shouted at him and he kicked her, so I decided to back away from the scene of the fight,” she added.
Eventually, policemen came to the scene and were reportedly attempting to escort the two into a patrol vehicle when the 26-year-old defendant resisted arrest and cursed at the officers.
He reportedly yelled ‘You are worthless!’ to the arresting officer, and kicked him in the stomach multiple times.
The 26-year-old’s defence argued that the assault was the defendant’s involuntary response to being attacked with pepper spray.
“The man had complied with the policeman, who was however cruel and used pepper spray on his face again despite being quiet.
“He was in a state of temporary blindness and moved his body involuntarily as a response to the unexpected attack; he could not see who was standing in front of him.”
Based on the testimonies, and regardless of the defence’s argument, the first defendant was sentenced to two years in jail.
Judges found him guilty of assaulting public security officers, insulting them publicly in the line of duty, causing bodily harm to the woman and causing a disturbance to others while being drunk.
The second defendant was only found guilty of public intoxication and was acquitted of other charges as he had complied with policemen after being arrested.
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