UAE | Crime
Freed dive centre instructor returning to South Africa
A diving instructor who was released from a Sharjah prison, will be returning to South Africa on Monday.
- By Alice Johnson, Deputy UAE Editor
- Published: 22:41 July 26, 2009
- Roxanne Hillier with her father, Freddie. Roxanne is due to return to South Africa today after being released from a Sharjah prison.
- Image Credit: Supplied Photo
Sharjah: A diving instructor who was released from a Sharjah prison, will be returning to South Africa on Monday.
Roxanne Hillier, 22, and her employer were arrested in May on charges of sexual relations outside of marriage, after police raided their place of work in Khor Fakkan.
The case went to appeal and her employer was released. Medical tests came back negative for sexual intercourse on both parties. However, Hillier lost on appeal and remained in jail.
Roxanne, speaking to Gulf News from Sharjah, said she was still "very shocked" about the case.
"Roxanne called me and just said: 'Daddy, I'm free,'" Freddie Hillier, Roxanne's father, told Gulf News.
"We are very grateful for the compassion that has been shown," he said.
"I must also say thank you to the prison - they have been good, treated her well and treated her with respect."
Roxanne Hillier - a qualified diving instructor who was working as a dive rescuer - was released and received her passport on Thursday.
"Roxanne is a very bubbly person - but now she seems to fall into quiet moods, which she didn't before," her father said.
Roxanne's sister Maxine previously lived and worked in Abu Dhabi, but recently left the UAE. Roxanne will be travelling back to South Africa on Monday with her mother, Ina, who has been staying in Sharjah during the case.
"Diving is her life," her father said. "She lives for it and she wants to keep on diving. It's been a relief - our nightmare is finally over."
A support page for Roxanne on the social networking site Facebook has garnered 2,671 supporters, who have been posting messages of goodwill.
"Thank you all for the messages and ALL the support it meant the world to me when I was in and still means the world to me that I am out in the free world," Roxanne wrote on the page.
Hillier said Roxanne was hoping to study for the STW95 (a safety at sea qualification, required to work on mega-yachts) once she returned home.
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