Dubai: A British man is disputing a six-month imprisonment that was delivered in absentia against him in 2009 after he was convicted of having consensual sex with a previously-married woman.

In 2009, the Dubai Misdemeanours Court sentenced the British man and his countrywoman [who was married then and had two children] to six months in jail followed by deportation.

The convicted man was sentenced in absentia.

As per the UAE laws, defendants who are sentenced in absentia are entitled to a retrial.

When the Briton showed up before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court during his retrial last week, he entered a guilty plea.

His lawyer Yousuf Hammad argued before the presiding judge: “My client is a married man and a father and lives a happy and stable life. His family depends on him. He was sentenced in absentia more than five years ago. We ask the court to dismiss the case due to time lapse.”

Court records said law enforcement officers who searched the woman’s house seized a number of evidence (such as used condoms) which confirmed that the woman had sex with someone when her husband was away.

Meanwhile, prosecution witnesses confirmed that she cheated on her husband more than once.

While the man defendant was sentenced in absentia as he had left Dubai [after the incident that happened in April/May 2008], the woman defendant had her six-month imprisonment commuted to three months by the courts of Appeal and Cassation respectively.

Advocate Hammad argued in courtroom nine: “The defence will not discuss the details of the crime considering that it is more than five years old. We are seeking to have the legal action halted against the defendant and have the case dropped. My client’s family is waiting for him.”

In 2009, the Cassation Court ordered the woman defendant to pay Dh20,000 in temporary compensation to her husband.

In a civil lawsuit that the husband’s lawyer filed against the wife [who was later divorced], he accused the woman of cheating on the husband claiming that she inflicted emotional and psychological damages to his client.

In the case that created media frenzy in 2008/2009, prosecutors had accused the British woman of having sex out of wedlock with another man.

A ruling pertaining to the British man will be handed out next week.