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Visitor’s prison term for having illicit sex with man halved

The Court of Appeal reduced the one year prison sentence given to a Belgian visitor for having illicit consensual sex to six months on Tuesday.

The court upheld the deportation order against the 23-year-old defendant. In June, the Court of Misdemeanours had sentenced the accused to one-year imprisonment and ordered his deportation for having an illicit consensual sex with a Filipino. The two shared a homosexual relationship.

The case dates back to September last year when the Al Muraqqabat police were informed about the death of a Filipino, 26, who allegedly fell from his fourth-floor kitchen balcony in Deira.

The building’s watchman was alerted by a scream for help. “It was the Filipino who was dangling from his kitchen balcony.

He was screaming for help,” the watchman said during investigation. As he rushed upstairs to pull him to safety, the watchman heard the sound of a thud. He ran back only to find the Filipino lying in a pool of blood on the ground. As the watchman approached the Filipino, he heard the latter mumbling someone’s name.

When the ambulance arrived, the Filipino was still alive but he died on the way to the hospital.

Through investigation, the police found out that the man whose name was mumbled by the Filipino was the defendant, who turned out to be the Filipino’s flatmate.

The police first suspected a foul play and arrested the Belgian man on the charge of murder.

However, the murder was later ruled out as no substantial evidence or fingerprints could be gathered to prove that the defendant was involved in his flatmate’s mysterious death. The death was then considered a suicide and the defendant was referred to the court on the charge of having illicit consensual sex.

The defendant denied having anything to do with the fatal fall of the victim. He claimed he was in the bathroom at the time of the Filipino’s fall and when he got out ,he heard a scream and found the kitchen’s balcony door locked.

He admitted, however, that he had been in a homosexual relationship with the deceased. He claimed he met the deceased online and the latter invited him to stay in his flat and they shared a sexual relationship. The accused denied the murder charge but admitted to the consensual sex charge.

mary@khaleejtimes.com