Dubai: A man has been jailed for three months for sending an iMessage to his ex-girlfriend’s mother threatening to kill her daughter if she didn’t return the presents he had gifted her when they dated.

The 23-year-old Chinese man had a two-year-long love affair with his 27-year-old countrywoman before she called it off in January 2017 following several misunderstandings.

On Tuesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of repeatedly disturbing the victim in unsuccessful attempts to convince her to revive their relationship before he threatened her.

The accused repeatedly hassled his former girlfriend over the phone and went knocking at her door and every time he did so, he threatened to kill her if she did not return the gifts he had purchased for her during their courtship or repay him their value.

According to Tuesday’s ruling, presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the accused will be deported after serving his jail term.

The woman turned away her ex-boyfriend [defendant] several times until one day in May this year when he visited her house and after she refused to answer the door, he sent an iMessage, a text sent through Apple’s iMessage app, to her mother’s phone in which he said he would kill her daughter if she didn’t resolve the matter between them within 24 hours.

The man was apprehended shortly after the woman reported him to the police.

The accused wrote in the iMessage: ‘If she doesn’t resolve the matter by tomorrow, she’ll be killed ... I’ll kill you’, said records.

The suspect pleaded not guilty in court.

His lawyer told the court that the victim’s claims were all baseless and unfounded and that she had fabricated this case against him because she owed him money that she hadn’t repaid him yet.

The woman took the defendant’s flat that she rented out and never gave him the proceeds and she did the same thing when she also took his mother’s car, rented it and did not pay him the proceeds, said the lawyer.

The claimant constantly blackmailed the accused and threatened to report him to the police whenever he asked her for the money that she owed him, contended the lawyer, who asked the court to acquit the suspect.

The woman said that the defendant constantly hassled her and pressured her to resume their relationship once she ditched him.

“He constantly created trouble for me ... until March when he asked me to return to him all the gifts that he had presented to me. In May, he came to my place and I didn’t attend his calls or answer the door. A few days later, he sent the iMessage to my mother’s phone and threatened to kill me. Thereafter I reported him to the police,” she testified.

Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.