Dubai: A man lost his appeal and will spend three months in jail for threatening his ex-girlfriend’s mother to kill her daughter if she didn’t return the gifts he gave to her when they dated.

The 23-year-old Chinese man had a two-year-long love affair with his 27-year-old countrywoman before she called it off in January 2017.

The man repeatedly contacted his former girlfriend to convince her to revive their relationship before he threatened her and sent an iMessage to her mother’s phone in which he wrote that he would kill the daughter if she didn’t return the gifts to him.

He repeatedly hassled his former girlfriend over the phone and went knocking at her door and every time he did so, he threatened to kill her if she did not return the gifts he had purchased for her during their courtship or repay him their value.

In September, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced him to three months in jail.

The accused appealed his primary punishment and asked the Appeal Court to acquit him.

Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed the defendant’s appeal and confirmed his three-month imprisonment.

According to the appellate ruling, the defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The ex-girlfriend turned away the defendant several times until one day in May this year when he visited her house and after she refused to answer the door, he sent an iMessage [text sent through Apple’s iMessage app] to her mother’s phone in which he said he would kill her daughter if she didn’t resolve the matter between them within 24 hours.

The man was arrested shortly after the woman reported him to the police.

In the iMessage, the accused wrote: ‘If she doesn’t resolve the matter by tomorrow, she’ll be killed ... I’ll kill you’, said records.

The defendant’s lawyer argued in court that the victim’s claims were all baseless and unfounded and that she had fabricated this case against him because she owed him money that she hadn’t repaid him yet.

The woman took the defendant’s flat that she rented out and never gave him the proceeds and she did the same thing when she also took his mother’s car, rented it and did not pay him the proceeds, said the lawyer.

The claimant constantly blackmailed the accused and threatened to report him to the police whenever he asked her for the money that she owed him, contended the lawyer.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 20 days.