Dubai court slaps jail term, Dhs23,000 fine on duo for stealing from woman, threatening to defame her

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced two Arab visitors to three years in jail and fined them Dhs23,000 to be followed by deportation on charges of stealing from a woman’s sports bag, including a mobile phone.

They also threatened the woman with posting videos and photos of her if she did not pay them Dhs2,000.

The court charged the defendants with breaching the victim’s privacy by taking visible material from her mobile phone and transferring it to others’ smart devices without her consent.

According to the official records, the first defendant stole a sports bag that belonged to the victim while she was at a bus station.

The bag contained cash money, jewellery, accessories and an old mobile phone – worth over Dhs20,000.

The victim was waiting for the bus when the first defendant came to her and offered to help her in carrying her bags and putting them in the bus.

The victim left the two bags with the first defendant to put in the bus. The first defendant told the victim that he had already put the two bags inside the vehicle.

When the victim arrived in the other emirate, she was surprised to find that one of the two bags was missing.

She asked the driver but the latter told her that the defendant did not show up in the bus and consequently she told the police accordingly.

The victim was told that the surveillance cameras at the bus station were out of order at the time.

Several days later, a friend of the victim told her that she received a report from a person who turned out to be the second defendant.

He told her that he obtained her mobile phone from the first defendant and was able to open the phone code.

He threatened that he would post the victim’s photos and those of her friends and defame her, particularly as they came from conservative families.

He then demanded Dhs2,000, and blackmailed her with posting her indecent photos on social networking sites if she did not give him the money.