A twisted thumb has left an expatriate cafeteria employee in hot water and facing criminal charges for assaulting a guard who refused to let him switch on the valve of the burger and teashop’s gas cylinder.
The Bangladeshi man is standing trial at the High Criminal Court on charges of unintentionally inflicting a long-term injury on a fellow countryman, evaluated as a ‘three to four per cent disability’.
The 37-year-old defendant went to a neighbouring farm in Tubli to turn on the valve of the gas cylinder leading to the cafeteria, after the alleged victim turned it off.
The court heard that the guard had been instructed not to allow anyone to enter the property by his sponsor, the farm’s owner.
When he blocked the man’s entry, the defendant allegedly pulled his arm, twisting his hand, fingers and thumb. The kerfuffle was quickly broken up when workers from nearby shops heard the fracas and came on the scene.
“I was on duty when the defendant came to me, demanding to enter the property so he could turn on a gas cylinder,” the guard told the Public Prosecution.
“My sponsor wanted to remove the gas cylinders altogether from the warehouse in which they were stored but the defendant would not listen and tried to get in anyway.
“The boss had ordered me not to let anyone in, so I put my hand between the suspect and the doorway to block him and he grabbed my fingers and twisted them.”
Although the defendant admitted to prosecutors that an altercation happened, he claimed not to have hurt the guard, and that he had been wrongly accused.
He claimed in court that the 56-year-old twisted his own thumb in order to extort money from him, the court heard, adding that he was urged to pay BD1,000 to stop him from reporting the matter to police.
“It was 11.30am and I wanted to inspect the gas supply to the cafeteria I am employed at,” the 37-year-old, who lives in East Riffa, explained, describing his version of the events of the September incident.
“I tried to call his sponsor but he didn’t respond, so I tried to force myself in. We had a brief physical struggle but four people from nearby shops came and stopped us.
“He told me that I had twisted his fingers and thumb and went to the police station to report me. He told me that if I didn’t pay him BD1,000 he’d lodge a complaint against me.
“I responded, stating that I had not twisted his fingers or thumb, and that he had done it to himself. I said: ‘go report me, I didn’t do anything’, but then I received a call from the police, and here I am.”
A medical report revealed that the Bangladeshi guard had suffered metacarpal fractures. The metacarpals are a set of five bones, each one related to a digit, located in the area of the palm.
“It appears that the victim’s hand healed incorrectly which led him to suffer from chronic pain that affects the performance of his hand,” read the report.
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