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Jail Term for Cop, Two Others for Falsifying Accident Report

DUBAI — A 20-year old Emirati traffic policeman and two Syrians will each spend one year in jail as the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance on Wednesday convicted them of conspiracy and falsifying a traffic accident report. The three were also convicted of swindling insurance money.

The two Syrians — the manager of a car rental company and a hairdresser — will be deported after serving their jail terms. The policeman was charged with criminal complicity with the two others to falsify the report about a minor accident that occurred on Jumeirah Road on July 4 last year.

The Syrian manager submitted the false report to Oman Insurance Company and got more than Dh 123,000 in insurance claim.

Counsel Saif Al Moutaweh, representing the policeman, had earlier pleaded to the court to acquit his client of criminal complicity in falsifying the accident report.

“The Syrian defendant, who works as a hairdresser, took advantage of the fact that my client was young and does not have enough experience in real life to fool him. He made use of his friendship with the young Emirati officer to lure him into signing the report the hairdresser had filled with incorrect information,” the lawyer told the court.

“I ask the court to hold the Syrian fully responsible for the falsification of the report. My client was a victim of mere manipulation.”

The hairdresser, however, told the court that his role was limited to submitting the report to the policeman for signature. He claimed he was innocent, as he did not have any clue about its content. He said that the other Syrian had asked him for that favour since he knew the traffic policeman.

As per the court records, a road accident involving cars driven by a Filipina and an Emirati occurred on Jumeirah Road on July 4 last year.

The accident was minor, leaving just scratches on the two vehicles. When the Jebel Ali police called the Filipina, a receptionist, to enquire about the accident, she dismissed
 it as minor.

The Emirati driver of the other car, which he had rented from the car rental firm, told interrogators at the prosecution that the car rental firm manager had asked him to tell the police that he met with an accident in Dubai Marina when he was driving the rented car.

Suspended Jail Term

THE Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance on Wednesday awarded a suspended jail sentence of six months to a 46-year-old Swedish manager of a company for trespassing into the villa of a compatriot couple and assaulting them. The jail term has been suspended for three years.

The court pronounced this verdict at the end of a retrial held on the request of the defendant.

On February 25 this year, the court had sentenced him in absentia to four years in jail, a fine of Dh1,000 and a temporary compensation of Dh20,100 for assaulting his compatriot ex-wife and her present husband.

The court had also found the Swedish manager guilty of trespassing into the couple’s villa in Umm Suqeim. The woman’s present husband, a 54-year old pilot, was also charged with physical assault, but the case against him was referred to the Court of Misdemeanours.

The incident happened on January 16 last year when the manager trespassed into the villa.

He assaulted his 44-year-old ex-wife and her husband. As per the court records, the assault was over the manner in which the trespasser was bringing up his son born to his ex-wife.

The defendant knocked down his ex-wife. In her statement, she said he punched her on the face, pushed her hard to the ground and kicked her.

The woman’s husband stepped in after he heard a noise. He was also accused of beating the defendant with a stick. By the time the police arrived, the fight was over.

The woman’s husband lost a front tooth while she suffered scratches on the face and bruises on the body.

Man Gets Six Months Jail

THE Criminal Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced an unemployed Emirati to a six-month jail term for kidnapping, assaulting and threatening his ex-wife.

The 30-year-old defendant forced the woman to ride in his car on April 20 last year saying he wanted to talk about their son’s custody and then assaulted her and threatened that he would kidnap their son and burn her house if she did not come back to him.

The woman told interrogators that on that day, she was heading to her workplace near Wafi Centre in her company’s bus.

She noticed her ex-husband chasing the bus before blocking its way. She got scared when she saw him wearing 
a knuckleduster.

He wanted her to go with him in his car and promised not to harm her. She agreed only after he allowed the bus driver also to be in the car.

After driving for a short distance, the man asked the bus driver to step down as he wanted to be alone with his ex-wife so that they could discuss some private matters.

The moment the driver got out of the car, the Emirati slapped her face and threatened that he would burn her house. He asked her to return to him. He then dropped her at Wasl Hospital.

She told the police later that she went in her ex-husband’s car because she was very scared. He had broken a window glass of the bus with a sword and threatened that he would beat her colleagues travelling in the bus if she did not ride with him.

Man Caught with 3kg of Cocaine

A Benin national was sentenced to 10 years in jail and a fine of Dh50,000 for possessing drugs for trafficking
on Wednesday.

The Criminal Court of First Instance also ordered his deportation after serving the jail term. A Ghana national, a Briton and a Pakistani were all acquitted from the same case.

On July 26 last year, the Anti-Narcotics Unit of Dubai Police arrested the West African while trying to sell 3kg of cocaine to a police informant in Deira. He alleged then that the other three defendants were also involved in
the operation.

Jail for Robbing Electronic Device

THE Criminal Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced a Syrian national to three months in jail for snatching an electronic device used for issuing parking fines from a Road and Transport Authority (RTA) official.

The Omani RTA official alleged that the defendant became angry and abused him when he tried to issue the latter a fine ticket for using the RTA parking lot at Souq Mirched in Naif area without taking the parking slip on December 24 last year.

The defendant claimed he was not aware it was a paid parking lot pretending that he had not noticed the payment machine. The RTA official asked the Syrian to go to the RTA office if he wanted to lodge a complaint. At that point, the defendant stood in front of his car to block the official from taking down the car’s registration number.

The official tried to calm the motorist down in vain until the latter got in his car. As the RTA official approached the driver’s window to issue him a fine ticket, the Syrian suddenly snatched the device from the official’s hand and sped away.


mary@khaleejtimes.com

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