A woman and a man are accused of robbing a US$90,000 (Dh330,000) from a Palm Jumeirah apartment as retaliation for a disagreement with the tenant over prostitution clients.
Prosecutors charged the Russian woman, 47, at Dubai Criminal Court with hiring the second defendant, also Russian, male, 30, to carry out the armed robbery.
She was charged with plotting a robbery, while the co-accused was charged with armed robbery and trespassing.
On May 29 last year, the 30-year-old man along with two other males and two females, who are yet to be identified, allegedly forced entry to the Dubai apartment and stole money, a Samsung mobile and an iPhone.
An Emirati police lieutenant, 40, said: “We received a report of the incident and when we got there we found that the apartment was shared by three men and three women, all Russians.”
The tenants said they heard a knock at the door and when they checked they saw two women outside so they opened the door.
“When they opened the door, they said three men, one carrying a knife, stormed in and ordered them to sit on the floor,” said the lieutenant.
The trio then allegedly assaulted one tenant with a stick and stole money from another.
It was not specified in the court records why the tenants had large sums of cash on the property.
“I was smoking on the balcony when I heard screams. I rushed to check what was happening and saw three men who pushed me to the floor next to my flatmates. Then they snatched my iPhone out of my hand,” said a female tenant, whose age was not disclosed in records.
According to court records, police linked the 47-year-old defendant to the crime, who, upon her arrest, denied any wrongdoing, but later admitted to the crime, said the police.
She then helped police to arrest the second defendant after admitting to hiring him for the job.
He allegedly confessed during police questioning.
However, both defendants denied the charges against them in court.
“It's true that I went to the apartment, but I didn't carry a knife and I didn't steal anything. In fact, they (the tenant) stole from us and I went there to scare them into paying us our money back,” said the 30-year-old in court.
“[The 47-year-old] said she worked in prostitution before one of the women who lived in the Palm Jumeirah apartment started stealing her business. She decided to take revenge by robbing the woman’s apartment,” said the Emirati lieutenant.
The next hearing will be on March 6.
