UAE | Crime
Dubai court confirms jail term for Yemeni trader
The case of the gem dealer who swindled the public when he promoted an onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion claiming it was bulletproof concluded on Tuesday after the highest court confirmed his three-month imprisonment.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:01 June 25, 2008
Dubai: The case of the gem dealer who swindled the public when he promoted an onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion claiming it was bulletproof concluded on Tuesday after the highest court confirmed his three-month imprisonment.
The Dubai Court of Cassation rejected the 52-year-old Yemeni dealer's plea for innocence which he sought in his appeal.
The court confirmed the three-month jail term after which he will be deported.
The Dubai Appeals Court earlier reduced the initial verdict, six months in jail, to three months and also upheld the deportation order.
The appeals court reduced the initial verdict after several government bodies failed to confirm the Yemeni's claims because they lacked proper scientific methods or equipment to test whether the onyx stone was bulletproof or to decide its real value.
Ready to prove
The Public Prosecution charged the accused, Q.M., with trying to con people by placing a newspaper advertisement in which he promoted the bulletproof onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion.
"I am willing to prove to the world that it's a bulletproof onyx stone... I am ready to face a death sentence if that's what will take me to prove that the stone is doubtlessly bulletproof. ... I didn't con anybody out of money, but the police tricked me and filed a malicious case against me," Q.M. told the Appeal Court earlier.
His lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani, of Saeed Al Ghailani Advocates and Legal Consultants, asked the court to assign a physics expert to test the stone and decide whether it contained any electromagnetic powers which deviates the bullet before it hits the stone wearer.
Al Ghailani asked the court to acquit his client and dismiss the uncorroborated evidence.
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