Convicted thief proves he was outside UAE at time of crime

Man found guilty of stealing Dh23,000 proves he was out of country at the time.

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ABU DHABI // A man found guilty of stealing Dh23,000 from a locked car today proved to a court he was outside the country at the time.

MH was one of three Sudanese men convicted for breaking into the car and stealing the money from a locker next to the passenger seat. All three were sentenced to two years in prison, though he and one of the others were sentenced in absentia.

After police arrested him he was granted the right to a retrial.

When the judge asked today if he had committed the theft, he said he had not.

"What date did the crime occur?" the man asked the court.

The judge told him it was on July 4, 2011.

"I entered the UAE on July 6, 2011," said the man.

The judge then checked a report by the Interior Ministry regarding the man's travel, and found that MH had not entered the country until two days after the crime.

"Do you know the other two men?" asked Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer, head of the court.

"No I never saw them," replied the man.

"But they are also Sudanese," insisted the Chief Justice, "and you know lying in Ramadan is big foolishness".

The man insisted once more that he neither knew the men nor had he stolen anything.

The judge set a date of August 12 for a verdict, adding: "You are an OK Sudanese man, we will bail you out in the meantime."

hdajani@thenational.ae