DUBAI // An Egyptian cook who molested a teenage girl he met at a bar during New Year's celebrations has been sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by deportation.
TA, 27, denied the charge of molesting a minor at the Dubai Criminal Court last April.
Prosecutors said TA met the girl on January 1 when the 13-year-old Briton, SK, was with her parents at a bar. SK told prosecutors that she exchanged phone numbers with the defendant and later started texting him.
She said the defendant met her on January 8 at the Arabian Springs and she got into his car.
SK said TA tried to unbutton her shirt and kissed her on her cheeks and neck against her will. She told him her mother was calling her and she had to answer the call outside the car. She left him there and returned home.
Her mother, JS, 41, told prosecutors that on the day of the incident, her daughter returned home frightened and shivering.
"Her face was red, and there was a mark closer to a bruise on her neck," JS said.
After the mother insisted, the daughter told her what happened. SK's parents took her to the police to report the incident.
The defendant's friend JL, a 19-year-old Briton, testified that she warned the defendant against being involved with a 13-year-old girl. She said she saw him texting someone on January 1 and when she asked him, he told her he was texting SK.
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Expert input
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Director: Shawn Levy
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