Dubai: A businesswoman has strongly denied threatening to humiliate a merchant and his family using Facebook.
Prosecutors accused 33-year-old N.F. of sending text messages to 53-year-old Emirati A.M. threatening to dishonour him, shatter his family and turn their life to hell by putting photos on the social networking site.
‘I am innocent'
N.F. wanted A.M. to pay back money and drop his lawsuits against her.
"Sir I am innocent. I have no connection to all these accusations… I don't know the mobile number from which the text messages were sent to the claimant," N.F. said before Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi at the Dubai Court of First Instance.
Her lawyer, Saeed Al Ghailani, said: "The claimant is infuriated at my client because he lost 11 civil and criminal cases against her.
"He lodged this complaint maliciously against N.F. He fabricated this case against her when he complained to the police.
"They were business partners. He used an old copy of her passport to buy a SIM card under her name and used it to send the offensive and threatening SMSs to his own mobile.
"Yet the claimant was not aware that my client changed her name and processed a new passport.
"We would like to provide the court with a copy of her new passport and that by itself is the strongest proof that she did not commit this made-up crime."
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said N.F. sent intimidating text messages to A.M.'s mobile phone and threatened to humiliate and dishonour him and his family.
Warning
Prosecutors said N.F. warned A.M. that she would upload his and his family's photos to Facebook if he refused to pay her back.
The businesswoman was additionally charged with abusing etisalat services to curse and threaten A.M.
"Sir we were business partners and he lodged 11 cases against me and I won them all," N.F. said.
Advocate Al Ghailani contended that his client has been suffering emotionally and psychologically because of A.M.
On verge of suicide
"She is going through hard times… she was on the verge of committing suicide," Al Ghailani said.
"A.M. complained malevolently against her. He is the one who bought the SIM card for Dh50 and sent the SMSs to himself.
"My client did not do that and asks the court to pronounce her innocence."
A.M. claimed during prosecution questioning: "I received offensive text messages from the defendant. There is not hostility between us."
A verdict is expected on October 30.
