Dubai: Prosecutors have lost their appeal against a man, who was cleared of threatening to have his ex-wife disfigured with acid.
In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance, citing lack of evidence, acquitted the Egyptian man of having threatened his ex-wife that he would send someone to throw acid on her and her mother if she did not leave him alone.
Prosecutors appealed the primary ruling and asked the Appeal Court to overturn the man’s acquittal and have him punished.
The ex-husband pleaded not guilty before the appellate court and accused his ex-wife of lodging a malicious complaint against him to coerce him to waive a custody lawsuit for his children.
Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm dismissed the prosecutors’ appeal and upheld the man’s innocence.
The ex-husband’s lawyer argued that her client did not verbally threaten to harm his ex-wife, who too is Egyptian.
“She lodged this fake case against my client out of malice. She wanted to pressure my client and force him to drop the legal custody battle of the children’s guardianship that he had lodged against her,” the lawyer said.
Prosecutors had contended that the husband verbally threatened his ex-wife, telling her that if she did not get out of his way, he would send someone to throw acid on her and her mother.
The man pleaded: “I did not. She is my ex-wife and she lodged this complaint out of malice. She claims that she is married but she is not. She wants to pressure me to waive the custody lawsuit. She has filed several malicious lawsuits against me.”
The ex-wife claimed that an Egyptian eyewitness informed her over the phone that the suspect had called him at work and asked him to relay a threat.
“The eyewitness told me that O.Y. told him over the phone that if I did not stay out of his [the suspect’s] way, the latter would throw acid on me. He also threatened to throw acid on my mother in Egypt. He also threatened to hurt me in front of the building where I live in Dubai,” she testified.
The eyewitness alleged that the suspect called him to discuss the issue of seeing his children.
“He discussed the issue of seeing his daughters and then he threatened his ex-wife. He told me to tell her to stay out of his way, otherwise he would have someone harm her with acid,” testified the eyewitness.
The nature of the relationship between the ex-wife and the eyewitness remained undisclosed in records.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.
