Man sent indecent videos and threatening messages to wrong number, court hears

The man thought he was messaging a woman he was trying to break up with

A man sent indecent videos and threatening messages to the wrong number for two weeks, Dubai Criminal Court was told.

On December 14, 2016, the defendant — a 34-year-old Egyptian man — sent a 27-year-old Yemeni man a threatening message followed by several videos of a naked woman on WhatsApp. This continued for two weeks.

“I responded saying that I was not the woman named in his messages nor was I the woman showing in the clips he sent. He thought I was bluffing and said that I can claim to be whoever I wanted but that he was determined to post the clips online,” said the Yemeni, who reported the incident to police.

The defendant was arrested and during questioning said that he met the Omani woman — whose age was not disclosed in court records — at Dalma Mall in Abu Dhabi and then had sex.
"I was about to get married so I wanted to end the relationship with her. It was not an easy task to end it so I sent her messages threatening to defame her in front of her family and children," the defendant said.

"I told her I will post some of the clip I recorded of her while nude," the defendant told police.
He said that once he realised he had been sending the messages to the wrong number, he told the Yemeni he was only passing on a message from someone who had left the country.
"He wanted the recipient to think that another person who had left the country owns the clips and asked him to send them on his behalf so he doesn't report him to police," said an Emirati policeman, 33.

At Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday, the accused denied charges of abusing telecommunication means and attempting to threaten and blackmail an unidentified woman.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 9.