Dubai: Three men have been jailed for two years each for mugging a masseuse while she was walking back home after midnight and snatching her purse containing Dh7,700.
The 30-year-old Vietnamese masseuse was walking back to her residence in Al Jafliyah holding her purse at around 1:40am one morning in January 2016 when the three Pakistani men knocked her to the ground before grabbing her purse and fleeing the scene.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the trio, aged between 23 and 35, of mugging the Vietnamese woman and robbing her of Dh6,000 besides the equivalent of Dh1,700 in foreign currency.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the trio will be deported following the completion of their sentences.
The 30-year-old woman testified that she had been to her friends’ house and was walking back home from Satwa when she was mugged.
“I decided to walk home and had my purse in my left hand; when I reached a supermarket, I saw two men gazing at me strangely and coming in the opposite direction. I ignored them and continued go on my way but soon after they went past me, they turned around suddenly and one of them pulled me hard by my shoulder. When I fell to the ground, one of them snatched my purse and they escaped,” the masseuse said.
A police lieutenant testified that the masseuse reported to the police that she had been robbed shortly after the incident.
“Primary interrogations revealed that a number of mugging incidents had taken place in the same modus operandi — the muggers used to prey on women walking alone in streets after midnight. With the help of our informants, we identified the culprits. We apprehended the trio who admitted that they had accosted the Vietnamese woman. During questioning, they also confessed to being involved in other crimes. They admitted that one of them used to keep an eye on the surrounding areas while the other two would mug the victim,” the lieutenant said.
Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
