Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mohamed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced in absentia a young GCC national to 6 months in jail and fined him Dhs90,000 on charges of setting fire to a Majlis attached to his family’s house because his father prevented him from beating a maid working for them.

The details of the case date back to April 2022, when the suspect’s brother filed a report complaining that his brother had premeditatedly set fire to a Majlis attached to the family house.

According to the complainant’s statement, he was surprised by the outbreak of a fire in the house in which he lived with his family in Al Barsha area in Dubai, so he called the Civil Defence that came and controlled the fire.

The complainant continued that he checked the surveillance cameras and saw his brother entering the external Majlis of the house where he remained for about 20 minutes, then the fire erupted in the Majlis as soon as his brother returned to the house. So he reported the incident to the relevant authorities and handed them over the footage of the surveillance cameras.

The second brother of the suspect testified in the interrogations that the suspect tried to beat up a maid working for them a day before the incident, but his father prevented him and informed the police of the suspect’s attempt to beat up the maid.

He added that his brother went into a rage so he set fire to the Majlis and the dining room, causing damage worth Dhs90,000.

Separately, the Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an Asian worker to 10 years in prison, and fined him Dhs50,000 for attempting to pass narcotics, which he brought from his homeland through the airport in his bag. The convict would be deported after serving the terms, the Court ruled.

The case dates back to last December, when a customs officer at the Dubai Airport, through the X-ray scanning device, detected suspicious stuff inside a bag belonging to a worker coming to the country. Therefore, the worker and his baggage called for manual inspection, where items suspected to be narcotics found in a plastic bag containing sweets and clothes.

Accordingly, the suspect was referred to the competent authorities, while the items were sent to the criminal laboratory for examination.

A report issued from the criminal laboratory confirmed that the suspected substances were marijuana listed in Schedule No.1 of the Federal Law on Combating narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.