Dubai: A visitor has been jailed for a year for robbing a businessman of Dh19,000 after kicking him on a street.
The 43-year-old Ethiopian visitor and his countryman friend, who is at large, mugged the Indian businessman while he was walking towards a money exchange house in Naif area.
The visitor blocked the businessman’s way and kicked him in his leg and when he lost his balance and fell down, the runaway suspect picked the cash from his pocket and ran away in August 2016.
Police arrested the visitor from Mankhool area where he was spotted watching bank clients closely and waiting to rob any of them.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 43-year-old of assaulting the businessman and stealing his money.
The defendant pleaded innocent.
The accused kicked the victim and made him fall to the ground while the runaway suspect stole the money and absconded.
According to the primary ruling, the accused will be deported after serving his jail term.
The businessman said the incident happened when he was heading to the money exchange house to deposit the money in a credit card account.
“I was walking to the exchange house when the defendant came from my right and the runaway suspect from the other side. The 43-year-old kicked my right leg, I fell to the ground. The other man snatched the money from my pocket and ran away quickly. I chased them and shouted loudly ‘thieves … thieves’. I failed to restrain any of them. Then I complained to the police. Twenty days later, police summoned me to identify the 43-year-old who had been arrested,” he said.
A policeman testified that the 43-year-old was apprehended after he was suspected to be preying on bank clients and waiting to mug any victim in Al Mankhool.
“First, he tried to run away when he noticed that the police had been watching him … we foiled his attempt and arrested him. He was wanted for involvement in several other thefts that were carried out using the same modus operandi,” the policeman testified.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal.
