Suspect cleared after spending one year in Dubai jail

Dubai: A suspect who spent a year behind bars for abetting kidnap, theft and assault has been acquitted because he wasd not involved in the case.

The Dubai Court of First Instance was satisfied with the denial of the 24-year-old Indian suspect, N.M., who was arrested in May 2007 and maintained his innocence.

The court decided that the Public Prosecution failed to provide any evidence which could incriminate N.M. and his 22-year-old compatriot, N.P., who was acquitted for lack of evidence.

"My client has spent one year in jail for a crime he was not aware of and not even linked to... he remained in jail without any incriminating evidence that the Public Prosecution brought against him," said N.M.'s lawyer Abdul Moniem Bin Suwaidan, of Bin Suwaidan Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The Public Prosecution charged N.M. and N.P. with aiding and abetting their 25-year-old J.R., and 20-year-old Iranian Q.M. who were charged with kidnapping, assaulting, threatening to kill and stealing Dh14,600 from the Indian victim, A.R.

The Court sentenced J.R. and Q.M. to three years in jail followed by deportation, meanwhile N.M. and N.P. were acquitted.

Court records said J.R., Q.M. and a fugitive kidnapped the victim from Al Musalla Road where they beat and robbed him after they forced him into a car they rented.

They drove off towards Umm Al Quwain and held the victim for three hours.

The victim testified that Q.M. drove while the other two beat him and stole his mobile phone and wallet which contained the money, his passport and an air ticket.

Ransom

"Then they phoned my cousin, K.Y., and threatened to cut off my head if he didn't pay them a Dh5,000 ransom," said the victim.

"My client maintained that J.R. asked him to collect some visa fees from the cousin and he wasn't aware of any kidnap or ransom. N.M. said he convinced N.P. to accompany him. The main culprits [J.R. and Q.M.] even confessed during questioning that N.M. and N.P. were not aware of any wrongdoing," defended Bin Suwaidan.

K.Y. assisted the police in the arrest of N.M. and N.P. in a sting operation in Naif area [the collection point of the ransom].

The court doubted the charges of N.M. and N.P. and cleared them, meanwhile the other two were incriminated.

N.M. will be tried at the Naturalisation and Residency Court for an overstay in the country.

Harassment: Patient accuses doctor

A doctor is facing trial for abusing his profession and molesting a female patient who claimed he sexually harassed her when she went for a check-up.

"I didn't commit anything wrong ... I am not guilty," said the 45-year-old Egyptian doctor before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.

The Public Prosecution charged him with molesting the 31-year-old British female while examining her.

The Public Prosecution earlier dismissed a molestation case against the same suspect for lack of evidence in 1999. In this case, the British woman testified: "The doctor molested me when I went for a check-up because I suffered from menstrual pains."