Dubai: An administrative officer won a suspended imprisonment in the case of threatening to kill a divorced woman whom he befriended if she did not drop her police complaint against him.
The 35-year-old Egyptian officer, A.M., was found guilty of verbally threatening to kill the American woman and her children and shame her after she refused to remain his friend in May.
The Dubai Court of First Instance handed A.M. a three-month suspended jail term on grounds of leniency after he pleaded not guilty.
Records said the accused called up the woman’s boss, an Egyptian, and told him that the woman would lose her children and her life would become hell if she did not drop her complaint against him. He also threatened to dishonour the American woman in public.
According to the primary ruling, the jail term will be suspended for a period of three years during which the crime must not be repeated.
The woman said A.M. threatened her verbally several times after she asked him to stay away from her.
“I knew the defendant through his job at a local bank. We became friends once he knew that I was having marital problems and that I was getting a divorce. He befriended me in the beginning once he knew about my divorce. One day he said we were meant for each other. I backed out gradually and asked him to leave me alone. Later he started stalking me and chasing me to work and in public. I ignored him although he phoned me a lot. He called me from unknown numbers more than 10 times a day. When I complained to the police, he threatened me and my children, saying he would ruin my life if I did not waive my complaint,” claimed the American.
The woman’s boss said he was in office when the defendant called his mobile phone and threatened the woman and her children.
“He wanted her to drop her complaint. I discovered later that she had decided to stop being his friend,” he added.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.
