Man jailed for stealing and burning woman's bag in Dubai

The man admitted to burning the bag but said the woman let him into her hotel room willingly

A man who broke into a woman’s hotel, then stole and burned her bag will spend three months in prison after losing his appeal in court.

The 33-year-old Emirati appealed Dubai Criminal Court’s verdict, claiming the woman let him into the room willingly.

“She let me in your honour, I didn’t steal and I didn’t trespass, but I admit I burned the bag,” said the defendant

He told judges he met the woman online and they agreed to meet at a hotel in Bur Dubai to have sex for money.

After the woman let him into the room, three men allegedly began choking him and ordered him to give them all the cash he had.
"I gave them Dh400 and then they forced me to undress and have sex with one of them but I refused so they let me go," he said in records.

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Another man, his co-accused, said he went to the room after his friend told him what happened to help him get his money back.
"A naked drunk woman opened the door for me, so I took her and the other women who were there to the bathroom and ordered them to stay there but I didnt lock the door," said the second defendant.
The woman, who is Nigerian, called police on October 29 last year to report the two men for trespassing into her hotel room.
"My sister and I were in the room when they knocked on the door, as I opened they barged in, then locked us both in the bathroom," said the woman.
She said she opened the door a few minutes later and saw them leaving with one of them holding her bag which contained her passport and money.
Prosecutors said the two defendants admitted to stealing the bag as they left the room and splitting Dh1,000 they found inside it between them before burning it.
The Emirati accused and his friend, 33, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, denied charges of theft, trespassing and damaging property. However, the lower court convicted them both and sentenced each to three months in jail.
The expatriate will be deported after serving his jail term.

The Emirati appealed against the verdict while his friend failed to submit his appeal on time.
Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.