It takes two to court a suspect

Dubai: It took two translators to communicate with a Vietnamese suspect and read him his charges in court yesterday.

The incident occurred at the Dubai Court of First Instance when presiding judge Mounir Fahmi spoke to the court's Bangladeshi translator, Abdul Hai, in Arabic. Abdul Hai translated his words into English for a Vietnamese translator brought in specially from the Vietnamese Consulate. The Vietnamese translator then relayed the information to the suspect.

The Public Prosecution had charged Dong H.T. with stealing cables from a company. The suspect denied the charges before the court and the translation process was repeated again - this time from Vietnamese to English to Arabic. A ruling will be heard next month. Another theft case involving seven Vietnamese was adjourned last week for the lack of a translator.