Trio lose appeal over kidnapping businessman, forcing him to write Dh400,000 cheques

Good Samaritan offered to help with friend’s wife’s hospital bills but it was just a ploy to force him into a meeting, where he was assaulted and forced to sign cheques

Three men lost their appeal against one-year sentences for kidnapping, assaulting and forcing a good Samaritan who offered to pay a friend’s wife’s hospital bills to the tune of more than Dh400,000.

One of the defendants, an Indian, 48, called the victim, a 42-year-old Indian businessman, on August 23 last year to ask for help paying for his wife’s treatment.

"I agreed to help and we met at a cafe in Al Rigga to hand him the cash," said the businessman. He said when he met the defendant, two other men, a 37-year-old Indian and a Bangladeshi, 35, also showed up. All three restrained him and pushed him into a 4x4 before assaulting him.

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"They demanded I issue them two cheques, one for Dh380,000 and the other for Dh25,000. I told them I didn’t have my chequebook but they forced me to call my wife and have her prepare two cheques then two of them went to pick them up," said the victim, who signed both cheques.

"My husband called me and told me to prepare two cheques and two men will come to take them, which I did," said the businessman’s 37-year-old wife.

The three men then assaulted him again, stole Dh400 he was carrying and a Hublot watch valued at Dh19,000.

The victim reported the incident to police a month later. The three men were arrested and, during questioning, allegedly confessed to charges of confinement and theft, though they denied it in court in January.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted all three men and sentenced them to a year in jail each, followed by deportation.

They appealed the sentence but it was upheld by Dubai Court of Appeal on Wednesday.