Dubai:A man has been accused of stealing dinning tables, chairs, ACs and kitchen appliances from a restaurant after a fire in a building, heard a court on Tuesday.
The Indian owner of a restaurant was said to have been obliged to empty his workplace for maintenance purposes after a fire in the building where his shop is located in March 2018.
Shortly after the fire gutted substantial parts of the building, the Indian owner was forced to close down the restaurant, according to records, temporarily for maintenance.
The owner flew out to his country and when he returned to Dubai, he discovered that several items had been stolen from his place.
The man notified the police and primary interrogations revealed that the owner’s former employee, a 35-year-old Indian, had stolen them.
Prosecutors charged the 35-year-old suspect with stealing a stove, a microwave, freezer, 6 ACs, 48 chairs and 12 dining tables.
According to the chargesheet, prosecutors said the 35-year-old Indian committed the robbery in collaboration with three of the restaurant’s former employees, who remain at large.
The suspect pleaded guilty and admitted that he robbed the items from the restaurants when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
“Yes I did,” he told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal as he asked for mercy.
The restaurant owner claimed to prosecutors that the fire that gutted the building in March forced him to close down the place for maintenance.
“The suspect worked in my restaurant until he resigned in October 2017 and the other runaway suspects stayed working at the restaurant until its temporary closure … they were on my sponsorship. I left to India and when I returned I discovered that the restaurant had been robbed,” he testified to prosecutors.
The suspect was cited as admitting to prosecutors that he and the fugitives paid Dh950 to a stranger to take the stolen items from them.
A ruling will be heard on December 25.
