The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Ehab Atta, Mona Al Badawi, Staff Reporters

The Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced an African jeweler, 31, to one year in jail to be followed by deportation after he was convicted of confining a European woman, 53, assaulting her 20 times, preventing her from eating and drinking and forcing her to eat dog food.

According to the official records, the victim testified that she got to know the defendant through a social media app and he requested to meet her in a café in the Marina. Later, she went with him to his residence after he threatened her with a knife.

He forced her in, locked the door and took her passport, two mobiles, clothes and shoes before he assaulted her 20 times, prevented her from eating and drinking and forced her to take dog food.

Later, he went with her outside the building and stopped a taxi for her to go home. She reported what happened to her to the police. According to surveillance cameras at the building where the crime took place, the victim entered the building immediately after the defendant and it was not clear if he used a knife as alleged by the victim.

Investigations showed that the defendant previously committed a similar crime with another European woman. In another case, an Asian foreman offered a bribe of Dhs2500 to a civil servant to cancel a fine of Dhs10,000 that was imposed on him after being caught while throwing waste in public places. The civil servant reported the bribe to the authorities concerned, which, in turn, arrested the defendant red-handed and referred the case to Al Ain Court of First Instance after completing the investigations.

According to the public prosecution’s investigations, while the civil servant was inspecting places and issuing fines against offender, he saw some construction worker in front of a house in a public place and found that it was the defendant who threw it. When he asked about the waste, the defendant confessed to having thrown it and the civil servant issued a fine accordingly and gave the defendant an electronic receipt, which contained the type of violation and the amount of the fine which was Dhs10,000.