A member of the Qatari royal family has been sentenced in a London court after spitting on a hotel employee at London’s exclusive 45 Park Lane Hotel, following a prompt to show his room key by a security guard.
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, an 18-year old, was staying at the hotel, came back late at night and was challenged by hotel security to ID himself with a room key to make sure he was a staying guest – it didn’t go well.
The Al-Thani family of Qatar is the royal house that belongs to the Emir, although this guy is a distant relative of the ruler. Qatar owns many investment properties and businesses in the UK either directly or through funds, although 45 Park Lane belongs to the Brunei Investment Agency.
According to The Sun, Al-Thani was sentenced to a fine, compensation, and court costs.
A MEMBER of Qatar’s royal family spat at a hotel worker in a 2am bust-up at a five-star London retreat – before being dragged from his room in handcuffs.
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, 18, launched the pathetic attack in the early hours of Monday morning after asking staff at Mayfair’s exclusive 45 Park Lane “Do you know who I am?”.
The minor royal, who was staying at his parents’ flat near the posh £700-a-night hotel, spent the night in Brixton police station after cops swooped and arrested him in his room.
Al-Thani is a distant relative of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The holidaying royal had returned from a night out when a security guard denied him access to the hotel at 2am.
Prosecutor Rihan Neil told Westminster magistrates’ court: “The defendant was a guest staying at the 45 Park Lane hotel.
“Earlier in the night he tried to gain access through a different entrance.
“To do this, he had to prove he was staying at the hotel.
“He refused to give these details.
“Security asked him multiple times to leave, before placing his hand on the defendant’s arm to try and encourage him to leave.
“The defendant became verbally aggressive and called the workers names.
“He then left the premises.”
The court heard the well-travelled business student later returned as the passenger in a white Maserati supercar.
Ms Neil continued: “He approached the staff member he interacted with and asked, ‘Do you know who I am? Suck your mum’, and then spat at the worker.“The spit missed the face of the security worker and hit the face of the victim.
“Officers were called and the defendant was arrested and taken into custody.”
The victim, engineer Jake Rickman, was on a night shift and walked over to the argument after hearing the commotion outside. …
The court heard the business studies student was due back at university in Qatar’s capital Doha when term starts next week. He had been in the UK since December 28.
Melina Antoniadis, for Al-Thani, said: “He is extremely remorseful. He did not intend to spit on the victim.
“He went back to his hotel room and was awoken in the middle of the night when he was taken into custody.”
A video clip from the hotel’s CCTV showed Al-Thani exit the car before spitting “from some distance”.
Sentencing Al-Thani, District Judge John Zani said: “To spit on anyone, or at anybody, is a disgraceful act, which I hope you accept.
“I am told and I accept the intended victim was not the gentleman on whom the spit landed.
“I take into account your plea of guilty, and I take into account your remorse. …
Al-Thani was fined £2,500, £1,000 in compensation and £85 in costs.
He was ordered to pay the fine immediately and was made to sit in the back of the court until the money was deposited.
This is absolutely unacceptable and as the judge said, disgraceful behavior. No doubt he won’t be facing any further consequences for his actions back home either.
A 3600 Pound fine plus attorney costs for someone with endless means really isn’t a penalty. Not even a slap on the wrist. I’d like to have fines applied in a progressive system such as in Finland where for example your traffic ticket is based on your income (although as a student who gets money from home he would probably be able to skate around that as well).
The fair outcome in this case would have been a criminal conviction and some prison time, paired with a ban from the UK for some time. Given what other petty nonsense the UK government is currently going after with criminal charges, this would have been a fair outcome.
Hopefully, the hotel employee who wasn’t even directly involved in this doesn’t face any consequences following this matter. I wonder who actually involved the police?
The 45 Park Lane is part of the Dorchester Collection, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Brunei. The hotel itself is run by a proper British General Manager.
I would imagine they know better than going after the employees for reporting the guest to the police. He should be banned for life.
Conclusion
An 18-year-old Qatari Royal family member got into an altercation with hotel employees while staying at a luxury hotel in London. As a security measure, he was asked to show proof of guest status when returning to the hotel late at night, but he refused to provide it. After he was denied entry, he later returned and escalated the situation during which he spit on one of the hotel employees.
The police were called, and the guest was arrested at his hotel room in the night. The court sentenced him to a 2500-pound fine, 1000-pound compensation, and court fees.
It’s amazing that such a serious assault will be punished with a minor fee that the offender won’t even feel in the slightest rather than criminal charges. London has really become the wild west for all sorts of crime and disgraceful behavior by these “investors”. If you google what kind of legal disputes the Al-Thani family has been involved in within the UK court system within the last 10 years, you get pages and pages of results, including some really grotesque cases.
