UAE | Crime
Witnesses fail to identify Wafi suspects
The five witnesses who testified before the Dubai Court of First Instance said "the suspects who robbed Dh14.7 million worth of jewellery were all masked."
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:53 March 6, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- The robbers rammed one of their cars into a jewellery shop window and used toy guns to terrify the shop assistants.
Dubai: Five witnesses in last year's Wafi City mall jewellery robbery could not identify the two suspects involved as they were masked, a court heard yesterday.
The five witnesses who testified before the Dubai Court of First Instance said "the suspects who robbed Dh14.7 million worth of jewellery were all masked."
"I didn't see any of their faces because all the thieves had their faces covered with black masks... it happened so fast," a 30-year-old Syrian witness told Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir:
"I didn't see any faces because the thieves were masked," stated a 29-year-old Filipina witness.
The Public Prosecution charged 33-year-old Serbian company owner, N.M., with aiding and abetting an unidentified number of fugitives who stole the jewellery. His 52-year-old compatriot, M.M., was charged with possessing some of the stolen items.
N.M.'s lawyer Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi earlier asked the court to bring in the 22 prosecution witnesses in the case.
"It is essential to listen to the statements of all the witnesses to be able to defend my client," Al Shamsi said.
A 22-year-old witness from Benin said: "I heard loud noises... I thought it was a fire... I couldn't see the faces of any of the robbers."
During Wednesday's hearing, the defence lawyers asked each of the witnesses to look closely at the faces of N.M. and M.M. Five of the witnesses could not identify the defendants and said the thieves were wearing masks, however, they spoke about what they saw.
Another 32-year-old Syrian witness told the judge: "I didn't see any of them because they were all masked."
A 20-year-old Emirati witness said: "The ones I saw were all masked... I used my car to chase the thieves' vehicles for some time until my way got blocked and they took a flyover and disappeared."
Meanwhile, two policemen who were among the investigation team told the court how their inspections and fact-findings led to the defendants' arrests.
The Public Prosecution said the duo stole two cars, drove into Wafi Mall at about 10pm and destroyed a jewellery shop's glass front after one of their cars rammed into it.
The thieves were masked and used toy guns to terrorise the shop attendants and broke the display shelves before leaving with their heist. N.M. and M.M. who pleaded innocent will appear in court when it reconvenes soon.
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