Dubai: A tailor has been accused of breaking into a fashion designer’s villa while she was on holiday and stealing valuable items worth Dh195,000, heard a court on Thursday.

The Spanish fashion designer was said to be on summer holiday with her husband, when her driver informed her over the phone that the rear door of her villa was broken in August.

Once the designer returned from holiday, according to records, she discovered that her villa had been burgled.

The designer reported the matter to the police.

Primary police investigations revealed that a 33-year-old Pakistani tailor had been apprehended red handed for stealing from another villa in the same way.

Crime scene investigators confirmed that the tailor’s fingerprints matched with those that were lifted up from the villa.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of trespassing into the villa, wrecking three doors and a stealing gold items and other valuables worth Dh195,000.

According to the charges sheet, prosecutors said the suspect used a screwdriver to force his way into the fashion designer’s villa and stole eight rings studded with diamonds and precious stones, four earrings, a gold necklace and a chequebook from a safe.

The suspect pleaded not guilty when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

The fashion designer told prosecutors that her driver phoned her while she was holidaying in Spain that her villa’s rear door was broken.

“I could not return immediately … once I came back, I rushed to my villa from the airport. The burglars had broken the doors of the three bedrooms on the upper floor and taken the safe that contained valuables,” she told prosecutors.

A police corporal told prosecutors that the suspect took advantage of the dark to break into the villa.

“We discovered that the suspect had already been apprehended for stealing from another villa. During questioning, the suspect admitted that he broke into the villa at 2am when it was too dark. He said that once he ensured that the villa was vacant he used the screwdriver to break the door and enter the villa … and stole the safe. The suspect also claimed that he went into a dark alley where he opened the safe with a screwdriver, took the valuables and threw away the safe and a chequebook,” the police corporal told prosecutors.

The trial continues.