UAE Court fines and sentences 2 women and 3 men to imprisonment for this reason
The Dubai Court of Appeal has overturned the acquittal of three women and two men who were initially cleared of charges related to luring an Asian man under the guise of a massage service, robbing him, and coercing him to disclose sensitive banking information.
The court ruled that the defendants be sentenced to two years in prison and fined 44,900 dirhams for offenses including unlawful detention, forced theft, and assault.
According to the Public Prosecution, the defendants employed subterfuge by advertising a massage service on Facebook and confirming its legitimacy through the WhatsApp application when the victim contacted them. Upon his arrival at the designated apartment, they forcibly detained him, seized his wallet containing 900 dirhams, and physically assaulted him. The assailants then photographed the victim's two bank cards, sent them to an accomplice via WhatsApp, and subsequently withdrew 44,000 dirhams from his account.
The victim, in his statement to the Public Prosecution, revealed that he responded to a Facebook advertisement by a European woman offering massage services for 500 dirhams. Upon reaching the agreed-upon location and pressing the bell, he was ambushed by the assailants who forcibly dragged him into a room. They stole his belongings, tied his legs, and coerced him to open his banking application on his phone. Despite attempts to transfer money, he failed, leading them to extract the PIN numbers for both bank cards. The criminals, in a series of events, withdrew money from the victim's account, informed an accomplice of the passwords, and eventually released him.
The police, tracking their criminal activities and uncovering their involvement in multiple crimes, arrested the perpetrators in another emirate. Subsequent investigations revealed the illicit use of the victim's bank cards, with one accused withdrawing 14,500 dirhams and another withdrawing 29,500 dirhams and making electronic purchases. The court of first instance initially acquitted the defendants, citing a lack of confidence in the evidence. However, the Court of Appeal disagreed, finding the initial ruling deficient and convicting the five defendants, sentencing them to two years in prison, imposing a joint fine of 44,900 dirhams, and ordering deportation from the country. The case remains in the discrimination stage.
