Dubai: A visitor has been jailed for six months for beating a fashion designer and stealing his mobile phone that the latter used to film him selling liqour.
The 33-year-old Pakistani visitor, B.S., and his two countrymen [who remain at large] beat the 26-year-old Pakistani designer and stole his mobile worth Dh600.
Records said the fashion designer was beaten brutally and his mobile phone stolen when he used it to take photographs of the accused and his accomplice bootlegging near his vehicle.
Despite having entered a guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance, B.S. was convicted of beating and robbing the victim.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the accused will be deported after serving his punishment.
According to prosecution records the designer took several photos of the three Pakistani bootleggers and wanted to report them to the police.
When the bootleggers discovered what the designer had done, they beat him brutally before they took away his mobile phone in July.
“I did not beat him or steal his mobile… it was the runaway suspects,” B.S. contended before the court.
Records said the designer restrained one of his countrymen and waited until he was taken in by the police.
“I saw the trio hiding liquor bottles under my car at 2am. I took several photos of them and when I tried to call the police, they attacked me. B.S. twisted my arms backwards while the two other men beat me. Then they escaped after taking my mobile phone. I foiled B.S.’s attempt to run away and kept hold of him until the police arrived,” the fashion designer testified.
A police corporal said the victim wanted to report to police that the defendant and the two others possessed liquor illegally.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
