Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court imprisoned a GCC national for 3 months and fined him Dhs13,000 for setting fire to the entrance of a villa, believing that he was being bewitched by a woman living inside, and the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

The details of the case date back to August 2022 in Zabeel area in Dubai, when a police patrol arrested a GCC national who set fire to the entrance of a villa and tried to flee the scene.

During interrogations the suspect admitted that he wanted to set fire to the whole villa, but its outside door was tightly closed, so he set it on fire.

Explaining that the reason for his crime was that a woman he knew and was living in the villa practised witchcraft and sorcery, and that he was one of her victims, so he decided to take revenge on her and burn her house.

He added that he went to her residence and knocked on the door several times, but there was no response, so he poured petrol on the outer door, lit a fire, and fled the place.

The owner of the villa reported that he saw the suspect getting out of his vehicle with some belongings and went to the villa in which he lived.

He added he knocked on the door several times, then left a plastic bag, poured inflammable substance, set fire and ran to his vehicle, but was detained at the scene.