DUBAI // Two men who stole and then set fire to a woman’s handbag containing her passport and money after forcing their way into her hotel room have been jailed for three months.
The Nigerian victim called police on October 29 last year to report the men, an Emirati and a Comoros Islands passport-holder, both 33, for trespassing into her hotel room and locking her and her sister in the bathroom.
“They knocked on the door and when I opened they barged in and dragged us into the bathroom. Moments later I dared open the door and saw them leaving with one holding my bag,” the woman said.
The Emirati said he had met the woman online. They agreed to have sex for money and she gave him the address of a hotel in Bur Dubai.
“As I stepped in, three women appeared from nowhere and strangled me then ordered that I hand over all the cash I 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.
The second defendant said he went to the hotel room with his friend to help him get his money back.
“A naked and drunk woman opened the door for me so I took her and the other woman there to the bathroom but I didn’t lock it,” he said.
Prosecutors said the men admitted stealing the woman’s bag and splitting the Dh1,000 they found inside before burning it.
Both denied charges of theft, trespassing and damaging property when they appeared in court.
“She let me in, your honour. I didn’t steal her bag and I didn’t trespass but I admit I burned the bag,” the Emirati told judges.
Both defendants were found guilty and were sentenced to three months in jail each.
The Comoros Islands passport holder will be deported after completing his prison term.