Driver beats, robs elderly man over girlfriend

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A jealous driver mugged an elderly man to frustrate his amorous relationship with a female friend. He will spend two years behind bars, a jury has ruled.

The Asian defendant, 32, attacked the Arab victim – a pensioner, 64 – in the parking lot of a residential complex in Al Quoz area at around 10pm on Jul.20. The victim complained to the Bur Dubai Police Station.

He entered the victim’s car, placed a knife against his neck and tied him up under death threats. The victim escaped. The defendant ran after him, hit his head with the knife’s handle and kicked him in the waist area.

He used his ATM card to withdraw Dhs24,500 from his account. Prosecutors told the court on Sept.17 that the Asian girlfriend, 30, was complicit because she was the one who lured the pensioner to the scene.

They demanded the toughest punishment. The Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to two years in jail plus deportation and sentenced the girlfriend to three months in prison after which she will be deported.

On the record, the victim said he went to the girlfriend’s apartment to hand her a sugar testing device. She escorted him back to his car. He had just entered when the defendant showed up and opened the door.

He sat behind him and placed the knife on his neck while asking him to surrender cash. “I gave him Dhs450. He ordered me to open my wallet because he wanted more. He grabbed my ATM card from the wallet.

“I complied with his orders under death threats. He tied my hands with a plastic rope and told me to drive to any nearby ATM. I asked him to loosen the rope. He did so. I drove as he directed me until at a mall.”

The victim spotted labourers, pulled over and jumped out of the car calling upon them for help. The defendant ran after him, repeatedly struck his forehead with the handle and kicked him. He fell unconscious. The defendant decamped with the ATM and used it to withdraw the sum from his bank account. An Emirati sergeant said he went to the scene upon a tipoff that the pensioner was severely assaulted by a robber.

“Investigations revealed the woman was complicit. A source alerted us both fled to Fujairah. We seized him with the ATM card and seized her with Dhs3,625. She acknowledged it was part of the money he robbed.

“She further explained that she was in an amorous relationship with the pensioner. And that the defendant mugged him to keep him away from her.” Before prosecutors he said he punched and robbed the victim.