Dubai: An unemployed man has been jailed for three years for stealing a golden chain from a laundry manager after spraying pepper in his eyes.
The 21-year-old Indian defendant, S.H., was said to have stopped his countryman manager, S.B., who was going for breakfast, to ask him if he could find him a job.
Then S.H. and his alleged accomplice, who remains at large, assaulted S.B. in the street, and snatched a gold chain from his neck and absconded in January.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted S.H. despite having entered a not guilty plea.
Prosecutors said the stolen chain was worth Dh8,000.
When he showed up in court, the defendant argued: “The footages of the surveillance cameras did not prove anything.”
Presiding Judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said the accused will be deported after serving his sentence.
The laundry manager testified that he was walking to a restaurant to have breakfast at 7.45am.
“I was behind a supermarket when I felt that two men were following me in Al Rolla Street. One of them stopped me and asked me if I could help him find a job… the next thing I noticed was the other man taking out a small spray canister and spraying pepper in my eyes. Then they snatched the gold chain off my neck and they ran away. I could not chase them,” said S.B.
A police lieutenant testified that primary interrogations exposed S.H.’s involvement in the crime.
“Surveillance cameras helped expose the defendant. When we arrested him and brought him in, the claimant identified him at the police lineup. S.B. claimed that S.H. was the one who sprayed pepper in his eyes,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.
Records said when prosecutors confronted the claimant and the defendant with each other, S.H. confessed that he sprayed the pepper only.
Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
