Wafi robbery: Man jailed for 10 years

A company owner will spend 10 years in prison after a court found him involved in last year's Dh14.7 million armed robbery at a jewellery store in Wafi City.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced Serb national N.M., 33, to 10 years in jail after he was named as an accomplice to an unidentified number of fugitives in the raid in April 2007. He will be deported after serving his punishment.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir said the defendant will pay Dh20,000 in temporary compensation to Graff jewellery store.

Meanwhile, the court acquitted N.M.'s compatriot visitor, M.M., 52, for lack of evidence.

The judge referred the civil compensation claim, lodged by Graff's legal representative Abdul Moniem Bin Suwaidan to the Dubai Civil Court.

"Ten years! Ten years!" exclaimed N.M., looking at his family members who attended yesterday's hearing as court guards escorted him out of the dock.

"I will definitely appeal the verdict," N.M.'s lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi told Gulf News.

The Public Prosecution's arraignment sheet charged N.M. with aiding and abetting a number of unidentified robbers who stole two cars, drove into the Wafi City at about 10pm and brought down the jewellery shop's glass front by crashing the car into it.

The robbers were wearing masks and used toy guns to terrorise shop attendants. They smashed the display cases with iron tools, snatched the contents and fled.

Law enforcement officers tracked down the two Serbs and referred them to court.

Not linked

Meanwhile it is believed that four unidentified suspects are still at large and police are hunting them.

According to the verdict, the court was convinced that the accused was aware of the heist as he escorted them to stores on Shaikh Zayed Road and other areas where they bought the tools for the robbery and black abayas which the escapees reportedly used to mask themselves during the heist.

M.M. was charged with possessing stolen jewel-lery. The court discharged M.M. because charges against him were uncorroborated.

"My client is not linked to the crime or the four main suspects who are still absconding ... My client stopped contacting the fugitives two weeks prior to the crime," Al Shamsi said.

He argued that his client was questioned by the police and the Public Prosecution unlawfully because no Serb translator was present.

/Gulf News/

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Court quashes prison term of Emirati

The Dubai Court of Appeals has quashed the one-year jail term awarded by the Criminal Court of First Instance to an Emirati H.H. for illegally possessing medicines without a prescription. The court also reduced the fine from Dh20,000 to Dh3,000.

The defence lawyer, Jassem Naqabi, deemed the arrest of the defendant as invalid as he was not caught redhanded.

He said that H.H. did not act with criminal intention and pointed out that his client was using the pills as sedatives.

H.H. was arrested in the Muraqqabat area in an inebriated condition on January 4 this year.

On frisking the suspect, the police officers recovered medicines for which he had no prescription.
/Khaleej Times/

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The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance has sentenced eight Chinese women, all visitors, to six months in jail each, for indulging in flesh trade.

All the defendants will be deported after serving their sentences, the court ordered.

The Chinese women were charged with running a prostitution ring from an apartment in Raffa area. They were apprehended by the police on December 1 last year following a raid on the apartment. They were indulging in flesh trade under the cover of offering massage services.

In the raid, the police recovered condoms and pornographic CDs among other items from the apartment.

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Final verdict on French boy’s sodomy case

The Dubai Court of Cassation is expected to give its verdict on April 7 in the French boy’s sodomy case that attracted media attention not only in the UAE but also in the West.

The court hearing took place on April 1 in the presence of all the five judges, who will issue the final verdict.

The Court of Cassation has been studying the verdicts of the lower courts which handed out 15-year jail terms to each of the two men found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the French boy.

The Dubai Court of Appeals had upheld the 15-year jail sentence awarded to the two by the Court of First Instance.

The three defendants in the case are A.K., 35, who is suffering from AIDS, I.M.,18, and I.S., 17, who was referred to the Juveniles Court.

The case dates back to July 14 of last year when the French boy, identified as A.R., and his friend F.K. were offered a ride by a local teenager. The latter called two other friends and drove to a desolate stretch in the desert and took turns in sodomising him. F.K., however, was kept away from the vehicle.

The appellate court had also upheld the referral of the victim’s Dh15-million compensation claim to the Civil Court.
According to the judicial procedure, the Court of Cassation can either uphold the verdicts of the lower courts or revert the case to the appellate court for a fresh trial. Source

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Fine for illegally downloading satellite channels content

An Emirati national, identified as A.A., 23, has been ordered by the Court of Misdemeanour to pay a fine of Dh10,000 for unauthorised downloading of content of satellite channels on to his web site.
The court has also ordered confiscation of his laptop, destruction of his DVDs and blocking of his website for one month.

According to court records, on July 23, 2006, A.A. managed to hack into the encoded system of satellite channels, including ART, Showtime and Orbit. He unlawfully downloaded many Arab and western movies and cartoons from these channels.

Witness H.S., who represents the Anti-Piracy Arab Association, testified that the accused was downloading and offering pirated movies on his website. "His act was damaging the business of the exclusive dealer and in violation of the Intellectual Property Law and the author's rights," he pointed out.

The defendant had admitted that he launched the website www.DVD-4UAE.com in the end of 2005. He said that he managed to break into the encoded broadcasting sites of the satellite channels of ART, Showtime and Orbit and downloaded movies, cartoons and musical files.

However, on July 29, 2006, the police raided the residence of the accused in Al Ain and seized a laptop and around 100 DVDs of pirated Arab, Western and animated movies, in addition to musical material. Source

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45 labourers jailed over violent protest

A Dubai court sentenced 45 Indian construction workers to six months in jail followed by deportation for involvement in violent protests to demand pay increases, a court official said on Sunday.
Late in 2007, labourers closed down roads, assaulted police and overturned vehicles in one of several protests calling for better pay and living conditions.

The court found the labourers guilty of charges including holding illegal gatherings, vandalism and violating public security, the official told reporters.

The sentences can be appealed within two weeks.

Dubai, where labour unions are banned, has long faced criticism from human rights groups who say it turns a blind eye to cases of the non-payment of wages, lack of medical care and sub-standard housing for workers.

Construction workers in the booming Gulf trade hub, which is building the world's tallest tower and manmade islands, have long complained about poor working conditions.

The government has revised the labour law to include requirements that employers pay for migrant workers' travel, employment permits, medical tests and healthcare.

It has also closed down some workers' camps that do not meet health and safety standards in a crackdown on firms abusing foreign workers.

But in March, the New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said a UAE draft labour law fell far short of international standards for the rights of workers.

Some of the problems begin in the workers' home countries, where many illiterate labourers are recruited with false promises of good pay and sign contracts they cannot read.

Foreigners, from labourers to high-income executives, comprise more than 85% of the UAE's population of about 4.5 million.

Many cities in the Gulf region are growing as governments plough oil revenue windfalls into ambitious development and infrastructure projects that rely on guest workers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent. (Reuters)

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Three-month jail term for molesting woman

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced M.A., an Egyptian driver, to a three-month jail term followed by deportation for molesting a woman in public.

On December 30, 2007, M.A, 29, followed an Iranian woman at a shopping mall and molested her while she was kneeling down.

The act was caught by the CCTV camera installed at the mall. The video footage was produced as evidence to prove the crime. Source

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Filipino gets 15 years for killing pregnant wife

The Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced a Filipino to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his wife, R.L., on suspicion of infidelity. He will be deported on completion of his jail term. The victim was a live-in housemaid with a British family.

According to court records, the accused decided to kill his wife, a housemaid, because he suspected the child that she was carrying in her womb was not his. The couple had quarrelled over the issue several times.

On the basis of his confessional statement to the police, the prosecution alleged that the accused confronted his wife at her employer’s house, while her employer was away. He grabbed her by the neck and strangled her while banging her head against the bathroom wall which resulted in her death. During the struggle, the victim bit his fingers, resulting in injuries to the accused’s fingers. The accused could not give a convincing explanation to the police for the injuries.

After committing the crime, the accused fled through the window, the court was told. A criminal laboratory report later established that the defendant was the biological father of the baby, who died along with his mother. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to 15 years in jail to be followed by deportation. Source

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Two cops get life term for rape

The Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced two policemen - 25-year-old Yemeni identified as AS and 23-year-old Emirati identified as SM, to life in prison for being found guilty of rape.

Judge Abdul Majeed Mohammed Al Nazami also ordered the first accused to be deported after serving the sentence.

According to court records, the duo accosted an Uzbek woman, identified as AK, when she was walking toward her house in Freej Al Murar in the wee hours of a morning in July 2007. Since the woman was under the influence of liquor and had been illegally staying in the UAE, she tried to run away from the policemen. However, the duo pursued the woman to her apartment building and pinned her down in the staircase. Both of them then raped her one by one. Source

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15-year jail for three for raping women

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced two men, M., 31, and R., 26, to 15 years in jail, followed by deportation, on the charges of rape.
As per court records, the two men had kidnapped A. on her way home in April last year. They drove her to their apartment, where they sexually assaulted her several times.

In another case of rape, the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday ordered A., 23, to serve 15 years in prison, for being found guilty of raping B. The accused, with another accomplice, still at large, offered the victim a lift home in April last year. They took her to a remote area in the desert, where they raped her. Source

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Indian brothers get life term for murder in Dubai

A court here has sentenced two Indian brothers to life imprisonment for murdering a compatriot and dumping his body in a hole after stealing his mobile phone.
The Dubai Court of First Instance awarded the life term, which effectively means 25 years in prison, to the Indian men, who have been identified only as 42-year-old JO and 28-year-old OO.

They were convicted of the premeditated murder of their compatriot DB, who was beaten with an iron bar and suffocated with a wet towel. The brothers were also found guilty of stealing his mobile phone.
The brothers will be deported after serving their sentence, which is subject to appeal.
The duo denied they intended to kill DB and told the court they accidentally murdered him after a quarrel. However, confessed to drinking and hiding the victim's body in a hole. Source

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9 Indians jailed in Dubai for stealing

Nine Indian sailors were sentenced to three months in jail each for stealing a box of shirts from a ship berthed at a port in Dubai.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the sailors of theft and possession of stolen materials. They will all be deported after serving their terms.

Two of them had earlier pleaded not guilty and denied stealing the shirts. A third suspect confessed to stealing the shirts and attempting to rob other ships in the port.
Six others, including a captain, told the court they received the shirts as gifts "without knowing that they were stolen". Source

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French boy’s rapists jailed for 15 years

The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced two Emiratis to 15 years in jail for kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old French boy.
“The court has sentenced the elder accused (36), who is HIV positive, and the other UAE national (18) to 15 years in jail,” Hussein Al Jaziri, the French boy’s lawyer, told Khaleej Times.

A juvenile court in Dubai is trying the third accused, 17. His trial is due to resume on December 25. Last month, the court had permitted the minor to take a psychological test.
Al Jaziri added: “The Dubai Court of First Instance has referred our Dh15 million compensation claim to the Dubai Civil Court.” The prosecution would appeal for a tougher sentence against the two men. Source

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Court upholds death sentence of murderer

The Appeal Court in Sharjah on Sunday upheld the death sentence against an American who murdered a German engineer last year, a legal source told Gulf News.

The court rejected the plea of Shahid Poliss King and confirmed the death sentence against him for killing Martin Herbert Steiner by suffocating him, stuffing the body in a suitcase and dumping it in the desert.
A court source told Gulf News Poliss, in his mid-30s, was sentenced to death while his Ethiopian partner, Fawzia Nigash Yousuf, was convicted of aiding and abetting the crime, theft and having an illicit affair.
Steiner, a 48-year-old German businessman, had been reported missing and his decomposed body was found 15 days later by police off the Dubai-Hatta Road.
Poliss, an American Muslim, entered the country on a visit visa using a forged British passport, according to sources.
Sources said he shaved his beard and posed as a gay on a website. Fawzia had contacted Poliss after reading a newspaper advertisement for a housemaid.
Poliss convinced Fawzia to offer sexual services to customers, and it was alleged the money received was to be used on the Al Qaida terror network.
Police reportedly found CDs at Poliss's house on how to make poisonous chemical substances and drugs. They also found pictures of girls aged less than eight sitting on his bed.
The Ethiopian woman got three years in prison followed by deportation. (Gulf News)

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Court orders Dh860,000 for causing accident

The Fujairah Court of First Instance yesterday ordered a national, A.S, to pay Dh860,000 to A.A, another national, in compensation for a permanent disability he caused him in an accident.
As per court records, the accident happened in October 2006, when the victim, A.A, was hit by the car being driven by A.S. The accident happened on a road in Dibba.

The victim sustained serious injuries, including multiple fractures, and was rushed to Dibba Hospital for treatment.
A lawsuit was filed at the Fujairah Court of First Instance, where the victim’s lawyer sought a compensation of Dh5 million to compensate for the physical, psychological, and financial damages his client had suffered because of the accident.
The court, in view of the medical reports submitted, ordered A.S to pay A.A a compensation of Dh860,000. Source

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Court orders brothers to pay diya for girl’s death

The Federal Supreme Court recently ordered three brothers to pay blood money (diya) to the family of a girl who got electrocuted while drinking water from a water cooler installed by the brothers in front of their house as charity.

The apex court ruling on Wednesday said the fact that the water cooler was installed as a charity is no justification for neglecting its maintenance, which led to the death of the girl. The incident happened two years ago.
The court ordered the brothers to pay Dh50,000 collectively as diya to the family of the girl. Source

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Jailed for printing fake currency

Fujairah Misdemeanour Court has sentenced two men of African nationality to six months in jail, to be followed by deportation, on the charges of printing counterfeit currency.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the seized money and the tools used by them in printing fake currency

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9-year jail for theft, sexual assault

The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced a UAE national, G.A, to nine years in jail, on the charges of trespassing, theft, attempt to rape, and assault of a woman.
As per court records, the man, in an intoxicated state, broke into a house in Al Barsha area at 4am, and robbed the house owner at gun point before fleeing the place.

After this, he headed to another house where a GCC national woman resided alone, and attempted to rape her. But the victim was able to resist him after which G.A took away her mobile phones and some cash, and before leaving, hit her in the face, hand and leg with his knife. The victim suffered several cuts and bruises on her face, hand and leg.
The victim was later shown some photographs by the police to identify the attacker, and she was able to pinpoint the man, who was later arrested from his residence the same day.

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Baby killed by mother

The Dubai Appeal Court yesterday upheld a three-year sentence for a Filipina mother who killed her baby girl. Last December the woman was washing the baby when she fell from her grasp and hit the side of the bath.

The woman said she had not worried about any injuries as the baby had seemed normal and continued to feed normally. However, the next day she realised something was wrong and took her baby to Rashid Hospital where it was pronounced dead.
She was investigated after medical staff reported her to the authorities. The Filipina will be deported after serving her sentence. Source

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Street robbers jailed

Judges at Dubai Court of First Instance have sentenced a gang of three Ethiopian men to six months in prison each and deportation for robbing dhs7,500 from a man who was waiting for a taxi.

According to police reports, the 29-year-old Sri Lankan victim was waiting by a main road in the Al Qusais area of Dubai for a taxi.
“It was in the afternoon in March and I was surprised when I saw a car stop beside me and two men leave it,” the victim said in the records read to the Court of First Instance.
One of the men held the victim while the other stole his wallet and jumped back inside the car. After stealing the cash from his wallet, he then hurled it back at the victim. The third accused was driving the rented car which then sped away.
The victim memorised the car’s number plate and informed police who managed to trace the men. Source

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