Dubai: A shepherd has been jailed for six months after a court convicted him of organising a gambling game for the public in a pedestrian underpass in Deira.
The Dubai Court of First Instance handed the 25-year-old Bangladeshi defendant, B.H., a six-month sentence followed by deportation.
Prosecutors charged the accused with organising a gambling game using a screwdriver, a belt and a plastic table. His accomplice is yet to be arrested.
The defendant pleaded guilty in court.
"Yes, I gambled and organised a gambling game," B.H. told Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said B.H. and the fugitive organised a gambling game in a public place. He was additionally charged with gambling.
Caught red-handed
A Yemeni policeman testified that an informant alerted them that some people were gambling in a pedestrian underpass in the Bani Yas area.
"A special police team rushed to the location. We caught B.H. red-handed organising a gambling game for a number of people. There was a crowd of pedestrians in the corner where he had organised the gambling game. We detained B.H. immediately and seized a belt, screwdriver and a plastic table that he used in the game.
Testimony
"However, we did not confiscate any money from him… he admitted that he had gambled and organised a gambling game as well. Upon questioning, he informed us that he had absconded from his employer and gambled," the policeman claimed during prosecution questioning.
According to the rules of the game, gamblers had to throw the screwdriver in the circle formed by the belt without touching it. Wednesday's verdict remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
