Dubai: A masseuse has been cleared of confining a man for 10 minutes inside a massage parlour after he wanted to leave without paying.
The Sudanese man was said to have cooperated with inspectors from the Department of Economic Development (DED), according to records, when the 26-year-old Thai masseuse, N.L., locked him inside the parlour after he refused to pay Dh150 for his massage in May 2015.
In June, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced N.L. in absentia to one year in jail.
However she surrendered herself and requested a retrial during which she pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of confining the man in the parlour for 10 minutes.
On Monday, presiding judge Urfan Omar acquitted N.L. of confining the Sudanese man citing lack of corroborated evidence.
Records said the man did not go for a massage but he was aiding DED’s inspectors to enter the parlour and fine the owner for suspicious immoral activities that had been reported by neighbours before the incident.
The Thai woman was cited telling prosecutors that she had kept the Sudanese man inside to make him pay Dh150 for the massage that he had.
The Sudanese man claimed that the incident happened after his sponsor asked him to cooperate with DED inspectors to inspect the parlour.
“Neighbours had complained to DED about some indecent activities being practised at the parlour. The parlour’s staff had denied the DED’s inspectors entry so that they don’t fine them. I arranged to pose as a client and visited the parlour … then I called up the inspectors from inside and told them to come. The staff immediately left and N.L. confined me for 10 minutes,” he claimed.
A DED inspector testified that the Sudanese man cooperated with them as the parlour’s staff had been uncooperative.
Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
