Dubai An administrative officer failed to prove his innocence in the case involving threats to kill a divorced woman whom he befriended if she did not drop her police complaint against him.
In July, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed the Egyptian officer, A.M., a three-month suspended sentence for threatening to kill the American woman and her children and shame her after she refused to remain his friend in May.
A.M. appealed the primary verdict before the Appeal Court where he pleaded not guilty and sought acquittal and to have his conviction overturned.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed his appeal and upheld the primary ruling.
Court records said A.M. phoned 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 threatened to dishonour the American woman in public.
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 getting a divorce. We were friends in the beginning. One day he said we were meant for each other. I backed out gradually and asked him to leave me alone. Later he stalked me and chased me to work and in public. I avoided him a lot. He called me from private numbers many 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.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 25 days.
