DUBAI // A woman chased down and apprehended the man who snatched her handbag.
The 38-year-old Filipina was returning home from her job at a cleaning services company at 6.30pm on August 4 this year when she entered a narrow alley in Satwa near her apartment.
As she reached for her keys she heard footsteps and turned around. "I looked back, and saw a man who quickly pushed me and pulled the bag out of my hand," she told the Criminal Court today. Her bag contained Dh1,300, her passport and other personal documents.
Despite her fears, she gave chase to OA, an unemployed 26-year-old Pakistani, screaming loudly as she did so. When she caught up with him passersby rushed over to help her restrain him and called the police.
SN, a 37-year-old Pakistani, said he witnessed the incident, which happened shortly before Iftar. "I was getting out of my car when I heard a woman screaming," he said, adding that he saw the man running away with the bag in his hands before being caught.
OA confessed to trying to steal the bag. A verdict is expected on November 15.
[ salamir@thenational.ae ]
