Dubai: A petroleum engineer has been cleared of verbally threatening to kill and malign a businesswoman on Facebook after his marriage proposal was rejected.
Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 36-year-old Emirati engineer of threatening the Lebanese businesswoman. In May 2014, he allegedly told her he would end her life if she did not provide him with the pin code of her mobile phone and that he would disgrace her on Facebook.
According to Sunday’s ruling, the suspect was cleared of verbally threatening the Lebanese, assaulting her and entering her flat without her consent as prosecutors’ evidence were insufficient to convict the suspect.
“The suspect is innocent of all charges,” said presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.
“I did not do that. All her claims are unfounded and she cannot prove it. They are all allegations and fabrications,” the engineer told the court earlier. The suspect asked the court do dismiss the accusation of threatening to kill the woman and to post material on Facebook that would expose her to scandal. He contended that the woman lodged the complaint out of malice.
The Lebanese woman had claimed to prosecutors that she became acquainted with the suspect in February 2013.
“We were getting to know each other and he proposed to me exactly 10 days from the day I got to know him. I did not refuse … and kept spending time with him to know him better. Yet, I changed my mind when I realised that his behaviour and attitude started changing. Several times, when we were out on a date, he would claim that he had forgotten his wallet so that I would pay the bill. I paid up a number of times, but I felt that he was exploiting me financially. I decided to back off and informed him that I did not want him. He got irritated … it was then that the problems started between us. Towards the end of February, he called me down to his car to discuss why I had rejected his marriage proposal. I went down and we sat in his vehicle. He drove for a distance and parked under his building … he asked to have my phone and my pin code, but I did not give it to him.
“He said ‘You will die if you don’t give me the pin code’. He took the phone from me by force and removed the memory card that contained my private photos and that of my friends as well. He dropped me home after 30 minutes. When I went home, he called but I didn’t answer. The next day, I answered after he phoned me continuously and apologised for his behaviour. We resumed our relation after I forgave him … later he returned my memory card but I did not know whether he had copied the photos. I met him several times and he introduced me to his sister as well. In October 2013, I decided to end our relationship as I planned to return to Lebanon and get engaged to someone else. When I informed him, he got very angry …. When I was in Beirut, he sent me several SMSs in which he threatened to malign me on Facebook,” she claimed.
The engineer refuted what he described as the woman’s untrue allegations when he appeared in court.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
