Woman jailed over Dh675,000 Dubai apartment theft

The unemployed Turkish woman will serve one year after being found guilty through fingerprints.

DUBAI // A jobless woman will be jailed for a year after she was found guilty of breaking into an apartment and stealing jewellery worth Dh500,000 and Dh175,000 in cash.

K Y, 36, from Turkey, denied a burglary charge when she appeared at Dubai Criminal Court last month but will be deported after serving her prison term.

“I didn’t steal anything nor did I do anything wrong,” she told judges. “Besides, if I stole, why did they wait two years to send me to court?”

She broke into the apartment in Al Qusais on September 29, 2013 after damaging the front door. She forced open drawers in the bedroom and stole Dh175,000 in cash, nine diamond and gold sets, as well as 13 rings, 27 bracelets and 8 pendants worth Dh500,000 in total.

Victim D N, a 40-year-old Iraqi, said that on the day of the incident she left home to take her mother to hospital.

“When we retuned two hours later, the door’s lock was broken, the lights on and the apartment in a mess,” said D N.

She checked her bedroom and found the drawers forced open and jewellery missing.

“They also took Dh175,000 in cash, some of which is for my mother,” she said.

D N called police, who dusted the flat for finger prints.

“The fingerprints were searched on the system and matched K Y’s prints,” testified policeman S M, 39.

It was not clear why the case took two years to get to court.

K Y can appeal within 15 days.