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Man cleared of threatening to post woman's private photos on Snapchat in Dubai

Dubai - The defendant was accused of demanding her to transfer money to him and to book a hotel room.

A 33-year-old man, on trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance for threatening to post a woman’s private photos on Snapchat, has had the charges dropped against him.

The court has closed the case following reconciliation between the defendant, an Emirati, and the complainant, also a UAE national.

The court earlier heard how the defendant blackmailed the complainant, a doctor, demanding her to transfer an amount of money to him and to book a hotel room in his name under threats of disgracing her.

The incident that happened on August 8 was reported at Al Barsha police station.

The complainant, a 36-year-old, recounted how she got a phone call from the accused. “He wanted me to book a room for him at any hotel in Dubai and to pay for the expenses. He also wanted me to transfer Dh5,000 to him. When I refused, he increased it to Dh10,000.”

She told the investigator that as she refused again, the defendant then threatened to post her personal photos on Snapchat. “I was surprised because I had never shared any photos with him. But he had told me once over the phone that he had hacked into my account on Snapchat and got access to my snaps.”

On the morning of the incident day, he called her repeatedly, telling her he was coming from Abu Dhabi and wanted her to come out of her villa to meet him. “He kept calling me until he arrived outside my place. I was still on the phone with him, when I heard a noise outside. It turned out later that he crashed his car into the gate and caused it to fall down. I had to call the police when he knocked on the villa door and I knew he got through the property,” she recalled during investigation.

When the accused heard her talking to the police on the phone, he left, saying that he would head to her parents’ house.

When the police arrived and checked the CCTV cameras, the accused was seen crashing his car on purpose into the gate.

She said that because of the incident, she had to leave the villa together with her three children and stay at a hotel as her kids would not stay there out of fear. The children woke up to the noise of the gate falling and saw it on the cameras.

The complainant added that the defendant was also sending her text messages with the same threats.

The footage, capturing the defendant crashing his vehicle into the gate, getting inside, stepping off his car and then leaving, has been enclosed to the case file.

mary@khaleejtimes.com