Dubai: An 81-year-old retired man came to court on his wheelchair on Thursday to testify that his home nurse did not steal his valuable wristwatch or laptop.

“She did not rob me, and she never would … I am confident that she would never do such a thing,” the 81-year-old Emirati man told the Dubai Court of First Instance where testified in favour of his 26-year-old home nurse.

Last month, the Sudanese nurse refuted the accusation of stealing her sponsor’s [the 81-year-old witness] wristwatch and laptop contending in court that she was beaten and humiliated by her sponsor’s family when she denied the accusation.

The Sudanese nurse, who is in custody, was hired by an Emirati family to take care of him last year.

When the elderly sponsor was taken abroad for treatment in October, according to records, the family discovered that a wristwatch and a laptop was missing. The family members said they found the stolen items hidden in luggage belonging to the nurse, who had wanted to return to her homeland.

“Are you sure that she did not steal your watch or laptop?” presiding judge Urfan Omar told the witness.

“Yes, she did not steal anything … even if she stole anything, I did not wish to be brought here in this condition [on a wheelchair]. I assure you that she did not steal anything,” the elderly man told the court shortly after being asked to swear to say the truth in his testimony.

The Sudanese suspect was heard crying when she heard her former sponsor testifying that she had not stolen his belongings and that he did not accuse her of anything.

Records said the family handed over the nurse to the police after discovering the alleged theft.

“I was beaten and humiliated by five members of the family and searched at the workplace,” the nurse had told the court in a previous hearing.

Meanwhile her lawyer told presiding judge Omar that he did not wish to add anything to the witness’s statement and asked the court to acquit his client.

One of the elderly man’s sons testified to prosecutors: “My sister and sister-in-law searched her luggage and discovered that she [suspect] had stolen a laptop and a wristwatch that she had kept in her luggage with her belongings.”

A ruling will be heard on April 27.