DUBAI // Four men were acquitted this morning of breaking into a villa, climbing onto its roof and stealing 150 pigeons.
Prosecutors had told the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance that on January 31, three men, 20-year-old unemployed MT, Pakistani; his compatriots AM and KR, 24, labourers; and the Emirati student KA, 18, stole the birds and sent them to Sharjah.
AA, the birds' owner, told prosecutors he left his house in Al Rashidiyah about 10.30pm on the day of the incident, heading to Al Ain, but he returned shortly after his mother called and said she had heard noises on the roof.
When he arrived, he said, he went to the roof and found the cage damaged and the pigeons missing.
AA called police, who were unable to find any fingerprints.
OA, a friend of the defendants, told prosecutors that on the night of the incident he was with them having a barbecue. He said they mentioned stealing pigeons, but when he asked them about it, they said they were joking.
salamir@thenational.ae
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