Dubai: A woman has been fined Dh10,000 for stealing her husband’s furniture, electronics and valuables and not allowing him to enter his flat in Dubai and take them following marital disputes.
Dubai’s highest court rejected the appeal of the American woman, who was fined Dh10,000 for stealing her Kuwaiti husband’s Dh180,000 worth of furniture, electronics, digital devices and wristwatches.
Following marital disputes, the Kuwaiti man took legal action against his American wife in Kuwait and Dubai.
After having obtained an order from a judge of urgent matters to enter the flat [where the woman had been living] in Dubai Marina, the husband accompanied a Dubai court legal officer to the flat to take his belongings.
The claimant and the officer were denied entry and the woman did not respond or open when she heard knocks at the door.
Records showed the man was denied entry to the flat several times and once he got in, he found that his furniture, wristwatches, electronics, digital camera, laptop, flat’s title deed and chequebook were missing.
The couple got married in Kuwait in 2013 and following marital disputes, the man filed a divorce in a Kuwaiti court.
The man said he saw an online advertisement by his wife selling his furniture and belongings and posted her contact number.
He accused his wife of stealing his belongings in a fit of revenge after he had lodged a divorce case against her in Kuwait.
The woman pleaded not guilty when she appeared before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.
The primary court fined the woman Dh10,000 and referred the husband’s civil compensation claim of Dh21,000 to the Dubai Civil Court.
The woman appealed the primary judgement and asked the appellate court to overturn her conviction.
In March, the Appeal Court dismissed the woman’s appeal and upheld fine despite she having pleaded not guilty and accusing her husband of lodging a malicious case against her.
The woman challenged the appellate court judgement before the Dubai Cassation Court and asked to be acquitted.
The woman contended that her husband failed to produce any substantial evidence that she stole his furniture, belongings and valuables.
In her defence, the woman argued that the furniture and other items that her husband accused her of stealing, belonged to her and had been present in the flat long before their marriage.
