Dubai: Two men have been accused of attempting to steal Dh250,000 from a clerk who had just withdrawn money from a bank.
The Ethiopian men, 32-year-old M.B. and 26-year-old A.A., were said to have followed the Indian clerk as soon as they spotted him leaving the bank carrying the money in an envelope in August.
Prosecutors charged the duo with assaulting the clerk inside the lift and in the building’s corridor and attempting to steal the money.
The suspects were additionally accused of beating an Indian worker who intervened and foiled the theft attempt.
A.A. admitted that he tried to steal the money but denied beating the worker when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
Meanwhile M.B. denied his accusation when he entered a not guilty plea before presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat in courtroom three.
The clerk, B.S., testified to prosecutors that the duo attacked him shortly after he withdrew his company’s money from the bank in Bur Dubai.
“I reached the company’s building and entered the lift. The suspects came in behind me… they told me that they were going up to the second floor. The lift door opened at the mezzanine floor and, once I stepped out, they followed me. When I tried to tell them that it was not the second floor, one of them grabbed my neck while the other took away the envelope. I tried to prevent them, but they stopped me and ran across the corridor and disappeared inside an office. The worker, who works for a neighbouring office, came out when he heard me shouting… then the suspects appeared again and jumped into the lift and went down,” B.S. claimed.
The worker testified to prosecutors that he climbed down the stairs quickly to catch up with the suspected culprits.
“One of them left the building while I restrained the one who had the money although he punched me. Other neighbours intervened and helped me keep hold of the defendant until the police came,” claimed the worker.
A ruling will be heard next week.
