Policeman gets nine-month jail in retrial for stealing from dead

Dubai: A policeman who worked for Dubai Police's forensic medicine department has been sentenced to nine months in jail during a retrial for stealing Dh6,000 that belonged to two dead people.

The Dubai Court of First Instance had earlier sentenced the 38-year-old former policeman, E.A., who is from the Comoros Islands, in absentia.

As per the Criminal Procedures Law, he turned himself in and requested a retrial.

The court on Monday cancelled the ruling that was handed out in absentia and jailed E.A. for nine months for abusing his office and stealing cash and other valuables and possessions that belonged to two dead people.

Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad ordered the accused to return the amounts that he stole and handed him a fine equivalent to the amount that he stole.

"I am not guilty. I didn't take the victims' possessions," said E.A. when he defended himself.

Gold rings

E.A. was facing two separate trials for allegedly stealing from the safe boxes of two victims.

In the first case, E.A. was charged with stealing Dh4,000, two gold rings, a valuable wristwatch, silver chain and a wallet from a deceased Indian person.

In the second case, the defendant was accused of stealing Dh2,000 from another dead person.

An Emirati police captain testified that the defendant admitted to him that he abused his position at the forensic medicine's reception and stole the Indian deceased's belongings.

An Emirati policeman claimed to prosecutors: "E.A. was in charge of receiving the belongings of dead persons, who are brought to the section. The belongings were kept in safety boxes. We discovered the crime when it was time to hand over the body to the Indian Consulate. Primary investigations revealed that E.A. stole the money and valuables."

The judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.