Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African, 31, working as a guard at a restaurant, to one year in jail to be followed by deportation on theft charges. The court also ordered the toy pistol used by the defendant to be confiscated.

The defendant stole Dhs430,000 from an Asian restaurant manager by threatening to kill him with a toy pistol. He was later arrested with part of the amount in his possession.

The case dates back to December last year when the restaurant manager filed a complaint that he had been robbed by a guard working in his restaurant.

The restaurant manager testified that the guard entered his office to receive his salary but in the meantime, he brandished a pistol while showing him a message in Chinese on his mobile phone signifying that he did not want to use violence or kill him but just wanted the money.

The complainant went on to say that the guard pulled a bag containing Dhs430,000 by force from the hand of a female employee working in the accounts section after threatening her with a pistol and ran away though the employee and her colleague tried hard to preventing him from escaping.

A policeman testified that a team of detectives arrived at the restaurant and after gathering inferences, they found that the guard had threatened the manager and the employee with a plastic pistol and fled away but he was later caught with Dhs21,000 in his possession.

The defendant confessed that the amount he had was part of an amount he had stolen from a restaurant he worked for. He also confessed to having given the rest of the amount to another man from his home country to send it to his family.