Dubai: A Chinese woman and eight compatriot men each face 15 years in jail after a court convicted them yesterday of kidnapping an investor and claiming Dh20 million in ransom.
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 45-year-old woman visitor, S.L., and the eight men, aged between 23 and 49 years, guilty of kidnapping the 24-year-old Chinese investor and unlawfully locking him up in a flat for three days during which they tortured and threatened to kill him.
Meanwhile, Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout, who pronounced yesterday's judgment, acquitted a 36-year-old Chinese sales representative, W.F., of similar charges for lack of evidence.
His lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi defended in court earlier that his client did not participate in the crime. "My client, W.F., is innocent. He did not kidnap or threaten the victim. Prosecutors failed to submit corroborating and strong evidence that he plotted and masterminded the kidnap… the evidence was insufficient and prosecutors based their allegations on the other defendants' statements.
"Besides, the defendants gave inconsistent statements regarding my client's participation in the reported incident," contended Al Shamsi.
The nine convicts, according to the primary verdict, will be deported after the completion of their jail terms.
The defendants earlier denied their charges and pleaded not guilty before the judge.
Prosecutors charged W.F. with plotting the whole crime.
According to the chargesheet, prosecutors charged W.F., S.L. and the rest with kidnapping the investor, X.K. Records said they unlawfully detained him for three days in a flat in Ajman, tortured him physically and psychologically and threatened to kill him incase he failed to pay Dh20 million ransom.
The investor testified that one of the gang members attacked him with a stun gun at the entrance of his building in International City before his kidnap.
"A suspect attacked me with stun gun to immobilise me. The rest attacked me with sticks. They pulled me over the floor and quickly pushed me into a car and they drove off. I couldn't see a thing because they blindfolded me," claimed X.K.
Prosecution records said the defendants phoned X.K.'s brother and threatened to kill him in case they failed to pay the ransom for his release.
The brother testified that when the suspects phoned him from his brother's mobile, they threatened to chop X.K.'s fingers incase they didn't collect the ransom.
