Dubai Two men were handed the maximum imprisonment, three years in jail, after a court convicted them of having consensual sex under a tree.
The Dubai Misdemeanour Court yesterday jailed the two defendants, a British teacher and an employee from the Seychelles, for three years each.
A Palestinian witness, who had parked his car behind a petrol station to have a quick nap, spotted the men indulging in sexual activity under the tree.
The defendants, 28-year-old P.A. and 40-year-old M.B, pleaded guilty to the charge of having consensual sex when they appeared in court.
Three years imprisonment is the maximum imprisonment in misdemeanour cases.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of having consensual sex in public near Al Garhoud Bridge. M.B. was also charged with consuming liquor.
"The accused will spend three years in jail. M.B. will pay Dh1,000 for drinking. The defendants will be deported following the completion of their punishment," said the presiding judge.
Liquor
Prosecution records said P.A. was not charged with consuming liquor because he presented his alcohol permit.
Sources close to the case told Gulf News — which had exclusively published the story earlier — that one of the defendants celebrated his birthday on the day when they were spotted having sex in public. Police records said a Palestinian worker, M.O, had parked his car behind the petrol station at Dar Al Bayda Road to have a nap because he was tired. He said he saw the defendants stopped under the tree before they both undressed and started having sex. M.O. claimed that he saw them in a bizarre and intimate situation.
When a police patrol arrived at the scene, the defendants pulled up their clothes and tried to run away. "I saw the two men walked beside a tree and then they stopped. They took of their clothes and indulged in a sexual interaction. They seemed drunk," M.O. claimed during questioning.
The Briton said he got naked in public but he ‘didn't remember what happened afterwards because he was heavily drunk'.
