Dubai: A father has been accused of trafficking his seven-year-old son into the UAE to force him to beg. The boy has a hearing and speech impediment.

Officers were said to have apprehended the 37-year-old Yemeni man, M.M., when he was spotted using the boy — whom he claims to be his son — to beg in Abu Hail in September.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to human trafficking before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

“I brought the boy to the UAE for medical care and treatment. I did not use him for begging… that’s not true,” he said.

Prosecutors accused M.M. of trafficking the boy and exploiting his impairment to beg and make money.

“Is the boy your son? And did you make him stand in the streets to beg?” presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi asked him.

“Yes sir, he is my son. He has a hearing and speech impairment and requires medication that I could not afford. I brought him here for medical purposes. I did ask for money to pay for his medication but not for begging. I am in a seriously destitute situation and require financial assistance,” replied M.M.

A police lieutenant testified to prosecutors that the suspect and the boy were spotted asking pedestrians for money at 7.30pm.

“When I checked on M.M.’s visa status, the records showed that he had entered the country illegally. Records also showed that the defendant had been deported earlier for begging. Upon confrontation, the suspect claimed that the boy was his son and that they were deported earlier for begging. However, he claimed that this time he brought his son here to seek medical assistance,” the lieutenant said.

A manager from the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children testified that the boy was admitted in October.

“Hospital check-ups confirmed that he has a speech impairment but can hear,” the manager said.

Records said the father provided prosecutors with papers to confirm that the seven-year-old boy was his son.

“I brought him here because there are proper and specialised rehabilitation centres to treat conditions like my son’s. We were seeking financial assistance to pay for his medication and not for begging,” the father was quoted as saying to prosecutors.

Meanwhile Dubai Police’s forensic laboratory confirmed that M.M. was not the boy’s biological father.

The trial continues.