‘I will never ever in my life drink and drive again because of the experience’

A senior manager at a major company in Bahrain has revealed his drink-driving ordeal to GulfWeekly in an effort to prevent readers from making the same mistake.

“I want people to know how serious drink-driving is,” he said, “It is no joke. It was the most emotionally and psychologically draining time of my life.
“No one can imagine what its like to be behind bars. It doesn’t matter that you are a manager of a company, you are a prisoner.
“It’s a transformation from a human to an animal in captivity. I want expats to know that their sponsors can’t just bail them out.”
The manager, who asked to remain anonymous, spent 34 hours in a jail cell after he was involved in a three-car-pile-up on the Seef flyover in the early hours of Sunday morning.
He had consumed three drinks on a flight from Europe before getting into his car at Bahrain International Airport.
Police took him from the scene of the accident and performed a blood test that revealed alcohol in his system. He was placed in Isa Town police station jail where he remained for two nights.
“They took my phone and all my belongings. I was given one phone call so I called my company but it was the middle of the night so no one picked up. No one knew where I was,” he explained.
He was placed in a cramped cell measuring just 10x4 metres with 30 other men.
“My cell mates were mostly Indians and Bangladeshis. Some of them had been there for three or six months because if you have injured someone else when drink driving you can’t leave jail until the other person is well enough to leave hospital.”
It was like a double-edged sword. On one hand he hoped he was not responsible for hurting anyone and, on the other, he was fearful about the length of time behind bars he could spend if they were injured.
“It was my biggest fear,” he said, “I was so relieved that the other people were OK.”
But by dawn he started to feel exhausted
and terrified.
“I was really frightened. It felt like my whole life was at stake.”
He felt incredibly depressed and tried to befriend his fellow prisoners. Finally, at 10am, he was allowed to make another phone call, but didn’t have any loose change.
“I never thought I would have to fight or beg for 100 fils,” he explained.
After being given a coin by an Indian cell-mate he finally got in touch with his company, but they were unable to pull any strings to get him out quickly.
He said: “The authorities don’t care where you come from – in a cell there is no such thing as Arab, Bangladeshi, Indian or European – you’re all prisoners.”
“The officers were extremely polite throughout but there appears to be no procedure – nothing is made clear to you and the only word you hear from the officials is “Inshalla”. Regardless of who you are you have to spend two days in prison for drink driving.”
He spent another endless night counting the minutes in the cramped cell and the following day, at noon, he was called to court.
He was handcuffed to another prisoner and taken to the Isa Town Police Court which he described as a “humiliating and degrading” experience.
“There is so much shame and disbelief in what I have done. I never thought I would have a criminal record,” he said.
The court gave him a choice of two years in prison or a fine of BD600. He took the latter and was banned from driving for three months.
The manager praised the system and believes it will act as an ever greater deterrent to others to think before they drink and drive if his story is told. “I think it’s an excellent system,” he said. “Jail breaks you, whoever tells you otherwise is lying. I will never ever in my life drink and drive again because of the experience.”

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By -RdS-
editor@gulfweekly.com