DUBAI // Three men who opened fire on a family’s villa using an AK-47 assault rifle, spraying the house with bullets and shooting out windows, have been jailed for a year.
The Dubai Criminal Court heard how on January 25 this year Emiratis A A, 35, K A, 32, and A Q, 42, shot at the house in the Al Rashidiya neighbourhood belonging to M H, whose age and nationality were not in court documents.
The three men fired randomly at the villa with the unlicensed weapon, but did not hit anyone inside. The windows of a car parked outside were also shot out.
Police were alerted after receiving reports of gun shots but A A, K A, and A Q, fled the scene. A patrol in the area spotted the men and chased their car, which was driven recklessly in a bid to escape.
Records show that the getaway car swerved and hit a police patrol vehicle in an attempt to slow down pursuing officers, but the men were eventually stopped and arrested.
A A, K A, and A Q were charged with issuing threats to M H and demanding he convince a friend, identified as K in records, to drop criminal charges against them in a separate case. Details of this case were not available.
They were also charged with forming a gang, damaging property with a gun and rocks, possessing an unlicensed AK47 rifle along with 34 bullets, trespassing, consuming alcohol without a licence and with endangering the lives of two police officers by hitting their car as well as the attempted murder of M H and his family by shooting at his home.
A A, K A, and A Q denied the charges in court last June and said they were not present at the scene.
However, the court convicted them on all charges except attempted murder.
They were all sentenced to a year in jail each. The court ordered the confiscation of the rifle and ammunition.
salamir@thenational.ae
