Man who threatened to kill a family acquitted by Dubai Court of Appeal

Dubai: Dubai Court of Appeal has overturned a conviction verdict against a man who threatened to kill a family, after a medical report showed that he had sustained mental anxiety. The Dubai Court of Appeal acquitted the man and ordered to put him in a rehabilitation centre.

According to official records, the 37-year-old employee had threatened to kill a man, his wife and daughter and also abused them via WhatsApp messages.

He was additionally charged with breaching the privacy of the woman by copying her private photos on his phone and threatening to share them with her friends to defame her.

Earlier this year, the Dubai Court of First Instance had sentenced the man to six months in jail. However, the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict and ruled that he was innocent — in view of a medical report by doctors from Rashid Hospital that confirmed that the defendant was not responsible for his acts.

Emirati lawyer Bader Khamis, from World Center Advocates and Legal Consultants, who represented the defendant, told the judges that his client was not responsible for his acts due to his mental anxiety.

“The defendant is suffering from a mental disorder. It has affected his behaviour as he can’t control his emotions and feelings and also loses consciousness at times,” Khamis told the judges.

“Based on the medical report by doctors from Rashid Hospital, the defendant needs to have his prescribed medication and advised to visit a mental clinic. He was also told to avoid driving for the safety of others. My client isn’t responsible of his actions.”

According to records, the husband of the woman said the defendant kept threatening him and his family between 2017 to 2020 by sending messages on their phones. He threatened to kill them and publish his wife’s pictures to her friends to defame the family.

According to Article 60 of the UAE Penal Code, a person shall not be held criminally responsible if, at the time of the crime, he or she is found to be out of his or her senses due to lunacy or some mental handicap or due to any drug or narcotic-induced unconsciousness — whether such drug is administered to him or her forcibly or taken unknowingly or for any other cause that has been scientifically proven to have obliterated one’s comprehension or will.