46,000 take part in police's victim support programme

Dubai: More than 46,000 individuals took part in the victim's support programme conducted by Dubai Police last year, a senior police official has said.

Major Rashid Al Falasi, Director of the crime monitoring department of Dubai Police, said that out of the 46,000 cases, 12,000 were reports related to criminal cases, while 76 reports were on missing persons, 15 death cases, and 816 reports on cases related to bounced cheques.

Other cases were related to traffic and fire-related accidents.

These cases were reported by or involved various nationalities with 7,031 from GCC countries, 25,000 Arab nationals, more than 11,000 from Asian countries, 857 from European countries and 264 African nationals.

One case involved a police report lodged by a young girl who claimed to be the daughter of an Asian mother and an Emirati father. However, she said that she didn't have the documents to prove her identity, Fawzia Abbas, an official at the victim's support programme by Dubai Police, said.

"She told us she wants our help to find her father after her mother had passed away. She claimed that she didn't have any place to stay," Fawzia said.

Following an investigation, it was found that a missing persons report had been lodged by the parents of the girl, who were living in one of the emirates.

"She made up this story to mislead the police about her escape. The parents were called in and advised to take care of their daughter," she said.

Another case involved three girls aged between 17 and 22 years who are unwanted by their families and who in return refused to go back to their parents, Reem Amiri, official of the victim's support programme in Al Ghusais Police Station, said.

She refused to provide details about the cases but said that the girls were unwanted by their parents for their uncontrollable behaviour and rebellious attitude.

Two of the girls were siblings with one accusing her brother of molesting her. Reem said that following her accusation, they arrested and investigated the brother.

Sheltered

The two girls were provided temporary shelter at the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, but due to their "unacceptable behaviour", with the rest of the members at the foundation, they were brought back to the police station.

The third girl was returned to her mother, who had to sign an undertaking that she would not use violence to discipline her daughter.

The two sisters stayed for a while under the provision of Dubai Police and many sessions were held with their families.

The youngest sister confessed that she was urged by someone to file a harassment claim against her brother.

The family agreed to take the girls back home, Reem said, adding that the case has been referred to public prosecution for investigation.