ABU DHABI // The Federal Supreme Court has referred the case of a man convicted of sexual abuse back to the Appeals Court because the defence arguments had not been fully investigated.
Prosecutors charged him and six other men of attacking three males of unspecified ages on December 27, 2012.
It was claimed they beat the victims, threatened them with a cleaver, sexually abused them and forced them to perform sex acts on one another.
They severely injured two of the victims by beating them with their hands. The injuries caused them temporary disabilities.
In August 2013, the Ajman Criminal Court sentenced the man to five years in prison for sexual abuse and an additional two months for beating the victims.
He appealed against the verdict, but the Appeals Court rejected it. He then referred it for cassation at the Federal Supreme Court.
The man argued that the earlier verdict did not apply the law correctly because it did not fully investigate his defence arguments.
He insisted throughout the trial that he was convicted of sexual abuse without evidence and claimed the victims’ statements contradicted the medical reports.
The report said one victim lacked any signs of injury. During investigations one victim said he was not sexually harassed by the defendants.
A medical report for another victim did not find signs of injury that matched the date of the attack.
The attack was allegedly carried out by seven men, but the verdict did not clarify the role of each attacker in the crime.
“This is a substantial defence, and the appealed verdict turned away from it and did not scrutinise it to point out the truth in it, which makes the verdict faulty and must be cassated,” argued the defence.
The Supreme Court agreed with defence’s reasoning, adding that the verdict should have included all the presented evidence and defences.
If the claims presented by the defence were shown to be true, the charges would be changed, the court said.
The Supreme Court accepted the cassation and referred the case back to appeals to be heard by a new panel of judges.
hdajani@thenational.ae
