Laptop theft ‘prank’ backfires, Abu Dhabi court hears

The defendant told the Criminal Court he had hidden his friend's computer to teach him a lesson about looking after his possessions.

ABU DHABI // A Syrian man claimed he only took his friend’s laptop as a prank to teach him to take better care of the computer.

On Sunday, the Criminal Court heard that the defendant said his friend always “threw around” his laptop, so he hid it to make him think he had lost it.

But when his friend asked him if he had seen the computer, the defendant denied it.

“He always throws his belongings around so I wanted to teach him a lesson,” said the man.

“All my friends know that I’m a prankster and I have played 10 pranks before on the accuser.”

He said on the day he was due to return the laptop to his friend he received a call from the police informing him that his friend had accused him of theft.

“I had told other friends about my prank, so maybe one of them notified him that I had his laptop,” he said.

He said he insisted to police that it was a prank and he was planning to return the laptop that day. However, officers were not convinced and decided to prosecute him for theft.

The case was adjourned until Monday for the defence lawyers to present their case.