Court lessens kidnapper’s prison term

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

DUBAI: A man who confined a female friend inside a deserted villa after she refused to give him access to her Facebook account has won a lenient punishment.

The Arab defendant, 30, asked the Russian woman –a visitor, 24- to give him her Facebook account username and password and she refused. He threw her mobile in her face then slapped and kicked her on various parts.

She sustained injuries to left arm. He locked all doors and went his way. She tried to escape through the window but failed. This happened inside the villa in Al Khawaneej area from around 9am to 11:30 am on Oct.18.2018.

During Criminal Court questioning he argued, “How come I confined her inside the villa where she was also staying? Moreover, I had in this case been accused of having an affair with her.

Now the case is altered to kidnap!”

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him to one year behind bars. He appealed. The Dubai Appeals Court has slashed nine months from the prison term.

On the record, she came on a visit visa and he sheltered her at the villa. When she was preparing to go for visa renewal he demanded her Facebook username and password. She told him she could not remember them. He attacked her.

He threw her phone in her face and she got injured. She threatened to call the police. He slapped and kicked her. She protected her face from the kicks using her left arm. She escaped to the yard but he dragged her and slapped her.

She gave up and fell asleep. He locked all doors and left. She failed to jump out of the window due to injuries on her left arm and right leg. She had no phone credit to call anyone for help.

She dialed the emergency number 999.

Cops were breaking into doors when the defendant who was watching them from a distance contacted her to tell them to leave and that nothing wrong happened. He told her to open the room where she was, using a spare key he kept above the fridge.

In court on Jan.15 his lawyer argued that the case was cooked up. “She was in an intimate relationship with him for four months. They used to go out together and also used go to nightclubs. She used to travel to her home country and return to stay at his villa. How then did he kidnap her and take her to the same villa?”