Dubai: A man who was sentenced earlier in abstentia on charges of molesting a schoolboy after mixing a sedative in his juice was sentenced on Wednesday to serve six months in jail to be followed by deportation after he failed to convince the court that he was innocent.
The Dubai Court of First Instance ruled that R.K., who doesn't carry personal identification documents, was guilty of the prosecutor charges.
Prosecutors said R.K. and another suspect called M. A.--both in their twenties--mixed a sedative in the juice of the 16-year-old Emirati boy and when he fell asleep, they undressed the victim and molested him.
As per Criminal Procedures Law, R.K. requested a retrial because he was sentenced in absentia. In the retrial, R.K. denied the charges.
According to the judgment, Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout handed R.K. the same earlier punishment of six months imprisonment followed by deportation.
The Cassation Court is currently looking into R.K.'s co-accused, M.A.'s appeal who also faces six months in jail followed by deportation.
Prosecution records said M.A. got sedative pills and mixed them in 16-year-old A.H.'s juice. When he slept, the defendants took off his clothes and molested him one at a time.
A.H. claimed that he did not know anything about the incident until his friend informed him what happened.
"I was unaware of what happened because I was drugged. I slept immediately after I drank the juice. Later my friend said the defendants were being questioned for molesting me. I heard M.A. admitted to interrogators that he bought the sedative pills and mixed it in my juice before he served it to me. I also knew that the defendants molested me when I slept and they took photos of what happened," A.H. claimed to prosecutors.
An Emirati police corporal said M.A. confessed that he molested the schoolboy, but denied kidnapping A.H. from his house in Sharjah.
"M.A. claimed said the friend and A.H. visited him at his house in Dubai to play Playstation. The friend left at 3am meanwhile the schoolboy stayed. M.A. said he told R.K. that he wanted to molest A.H., and they did," said the corporal.
Prosecution records said the suspects took photos of the abuse with a mobile phone camera.
Tuesday's judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.