Dubai: A cleaner has been jailed for three months for stealing a woman’s employee’s valuable watch that she forgot in the washroom at Dubai Judicial Institute.
The 25-year-old Bangladeshi cleaner, A.J., was cleaning the washroom when she found the Emirati employee’s wristwatch worth Dh30,000 and took it away in May.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted A.J. of theft after she entered a guilty plea.
She told the court that she found a watch in the washroom.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused will be deported after serving her jail term.
Records said the cleaner abused the fact that she was alone inside the washroom when she found the watch and stole it.
The Emirati testified that she realised her watch was missing after she finished praying.
“It was noon when I went to the washroom to perform ablutions before the midday prayer. I removed my silver watch and kept it aside while I performed the ablutions. Then I rushed to pray but I forgot the watch. I remembered later that I had forgotten the watch behind and went to retrieve it around 3.15pm. I did not find it. The next day when I saw the defendant, I asked her if she had seen a watch at the sink … she asked me if it was a silver diamond-plated watch. When I asked her how she knew, she alleged that she has experience in such valuable watches. I suspected that she had stolen it and reported the matter to the police,” claimed the employee.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
