Appeal Court commutes 3 Asians’ jail term to 6 months

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

Three Asian employees kept an Asian inside a labour accommodation for three days and assaulted him to force him to give back Dhs150,000 which one of them claimed that the victim procrastinated to return to a company they work for.

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the defendants to two years in jail to be followed by deportation. The Court of Appeal, however, commuted the ruling to 6 months but upheld the deportation.

The case dates back to June last year when an Asian filed a complaint with the police in which he stated that a friend had been confined by others. According to the complainant, he received a call from a friend from his home country in which he said a common friend had been detained by a gang, which requested him to transfer Dhs150,000 to be set free.

The complainant added that he received information from his friend that their common friend had been detained in a labour accommodation of a company he worked for in Dubai South area near Dubai Airport. The complainant reported the incident to the police which went to the specified location.

A policeman stated in the investigations that a team of detectives found the victim inside a room of a private residence that belonged to the company he worked for, adding that the victim was suffering from fear and fatigue.

On interrogation, the victim stated that he went to his company and his manager asked him to give him Dhs150,000 that belonged to their business but he replied that he did not own that amount of money.

The victim added that his manager, with the help of others, took him to a workers’ housing after seizing his phone, and then detained him in a room in a company housing, and he was beaten for three days, before one of them asked him to contact one of his friends to help him transfer the required amount to them from his homeland. The victim explained that he contacted a friend of his in his home country to transfer money to save him, as the latter informed a mutual friend residing in the country to help him. The police were informed and the suspects were arrested, the court convicted them and issued its advanced ruling.

The victim stated that he communicated with a friend of his in his home country to transfer the amount of money for him to be released. The friend, however, asked a common friend residing in the UAE who told the police accordingly.