DUBAI: An inebriated holidaymaker who punched a Dubai airport officer leaving him with a swollen face was, on Monday, slapped on the wrist.

The Saudi man, 22, assaulted the Yemeni policeman, 24, when he tried to talk him into entering a detention room over alcohol abuse on Dec.31.2017, prosecutors told the Criminal Court.

He posed fierce resistance while security personnel detained him. In court he argued, “By the time I assaulted the officer I had lost my mental ability to understand what I was doing.”

The court ordered him to pay a Dhs2,000 fine to be followed by deportation over alcohol abuse. Over the assault, it warned to sentence him to six-months in prison in case he repeated the same.

In prosecution records, the policeman complained he was on duty in the airport’s personal status office, at around 1am, when the holidaymaker was brought in. He was too drunk. “I tried to talk him into entering the detention room. He suddenly threw a punch in my face. I grabbed him. He posed fierce resistance.” Other airport security personnel joined to restrain him.