Dubai: A man has been acquitted of threatening to disfigure his ex-wife with acid after his lawyer contended in court that the woman fabricated her allegations following a children’s custody lawsuit.
Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 41-year-old Egyptian man of having threatened his ex-wife that he would send someone to throw acid on her and her mother if she did not leave him alone in November.
The husband contended in court that his ex-wife lodged the malicious complaint against him to coerce him to waive his children’s custody lawsuit against her.
His lawyer, Maasouma Al Sayegh, of Dar Al Balagh Advocates and Legal Consultants, argued before the presiding judge that her client did not verbally threaten to harm his Egyptian ex-wife.
“The ex-wife lodged this unfounded and fake case against my client out of malice. She wanted to pressure my client and force him to drop the legal custody battle of the children’s guardianship that he had lodged against her,” contended Al Sayegh.
The husband verbally threatened his ex-wife by saying, according to prosecution records, that if she did not get out of his way, he would send someone to throw acid on her and her mother.
“I deny this accusation. She is my ex-wife and she has lodged this complaint out of malice. She claims that she is married but she is not … she wants to coerce me to waive the custody lawsuit that I have lodged against her before the Sharia court. She also filed several malicious lawsuits against me,” argued the man when he defended himself in court.
The ex-wife alleged that an Egyptian eyewitness informed her over the phone that the suspect had called him at work and asked him to relay a threat.
“The eyewitness told me that O.Y. told him over the phone that if I did not stay out of his [the suspect] way, the latter would throw acid on me. He also threatened to throw acid on my mother in Egypt. He also threatened to hurt me in front of the building where I live in Dubai,” she testified.
The eyewitness claimed to prosecutors that the suspect called him to discuss the issue of seeing his children.
“He discussed the issue of seeing his daughters and then he threatened his ex-wife. He told me to tell her to stay out of his way otherwise he would have someone harm her with acid,” testified the eyewitness.
Records did not clarify the nature of the relation between the ex-wife and the eyewitness.
Meanwhile during the trial, Al Sayegh strongly refuted the woman’s allegations and asked the court to acquit her client.
Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
