Dubai: A bootlegger was sentenced to death and 12 others were jailed for life in a case in which two people were kidnapped, gang-raped and murdered with sharp tools.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 24-year-old Indian bootlegger, M.S., to death and 12 others — 11 Indians and a Pakistani — to life imprisonment.
Prosecutors accused the defendants, aged between 20 and 30, with kidnapping two Indian men and stabbing and attacking them with sharp and hard tools before five of the defendants raped the victims before burying them in a hole.
All the convicts were also charged with disposing of the bodies of the victims, A.S. and an unidentified man. M.S. and nine other defendants were also charged with consuming liquor. M.S. was solely charged with possessing seven bottles of liquor and 71 cans of beer with the purpose of providing them to others.
“The court acquitted the defendants of disposing of the victims’ corpses. The court referred M.S. and the nine defendants to the Dubai Misdemeanours Court where they will be prosecuted for the liquor-related charges,” said Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad.
All the convicts who were jailed to life will be deported after serving their punishments.Dubai: An unemployed suspect denied in court on Monday the charge of molesting and abusing his girlfriend in her bedroom.
Prosecutors accused the 28-year-old Emirati suspect with touching his Filipina girlfriend indecently before molesting her under the influence of liquor.
“I am not guilty. I didn’t molest her. And yes I consumed liquor,” argued M.M. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
Prosecutors accused M.M. of molesting and abusing the 27-year-old Filipina receptionist, M.J. He was also charged with drinking. When Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad asked the suspect about his demands or defence, M.M. said: “I ask for an adjournment because I need to appoint a lawyer to defend me.”
Extra bed
In her statement, M.J. said: “We had a strong relationship and the defendant used to come to my place where we used to chat for hours. On the day of the incident, the suspect and I returned from the nightclub… he was heavily drunk. I suggested to him that he sleep over and prepared an extra bed in my room for him.
“Shortly after that, the defendant came up to me and started touching my private parts. Then he grabbed my hands… I prevented him from undressing me and bit his finger. Thereafter he sexually molested and abused me… I kicked him out and reported the matter to the police.”
An Emirati friend told prosecutors that M.J. phoned him and told him what had happened before he helped her call the police.
The convicts pleaded not guilty and rejected the charges against them when they appeared in court. Upon the referral of the case to the court, Chief Prosecutor Sami Al Shamsi, Head of the Bur Dubai Prosecution, asked for the harshest sentence — capital punishment — against the convicts.
An Emirati policeman testified that they were warned that two Indian men were kidnapped as part of bootlegging rivalry between two gangs.
“Primary investigations revealed that the defendants involved in the abduction stayed in Jebel Ali. A police team that was combing the area spotted M.S. and other defendants, who were carrying sharp and hard tools, behind a gas station,” the policeman said.
“M.S. claimed during questioning that they faced ferocious bootlegging competition… He claimed that they warned the victims but when they refused to leave and continued selling liquor, they kidnapped them.
“He alleged that they attacked them… before he and others raped the victims… then they buried them in the hole.”
Yesterday’s judgement is subject to appeal
