DUBAI // A limousine driver will spend two years in jail for secretly filming a newlywed couple having sex in the back seat of his car during their honeymoon.
The 28-year-old then tried to blackmail the couple out of Dh2,000 using the footage.
The Indian couple ordered a limo from their hotel room at Four Points by Sheraton to drive them to The Dubai Mall at 4pm on February 12.
When the car stopped at a junction in Zabeel, the driver said he noticed movements from the closed-off rear area of the car.
He turned on a camera fixed in the back seat, which the couple didn’t know about, and saw them having sex.
“So I filmed them without their knowledge,” the Pakistani told investigators. He said he dropped the couple at their hotel after the trip was over then, a few hours later, he contacted the husband on WhatsApp and told him that he had something personal to show him.
The driver called the husband later that night and told him about the clip and demanded Dh2,000 or else he would post the video on social media.
The two agreed to meet at the hotel, so the husband could pay the money and the driver would delete the clip. However, when the driver arrived, police were there and they arrested him.
The husband’s 30-year-old Indian friend told Dubai Criminal Court that his friend called him and told him about the clip and the blackmail.
“I met him at the hotel and then we went to Al Raffa police station and reported the incident, after which my friend and his wife flew back to India and I followed up with police,” the friend testified.
In court in May, the driver admitted to breaching the privacy of the married couple, blackmailing them and using telecommunication means to carry out his offence.
His phone was confiscated as per the court’s orders and he will be deported after completing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Wednesday's results
Finland 3-0 Armenia
Faroes Islands 1-0 Malta
Sweden 1-1 Spain
Gibraltar 2-3 Georgia
Romania 1-1 Norway
Greece 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Liechtenstein 0-5 Italy
Switzerland 2-0 Rep of Ireland
Israel 3-1 Latvia
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Shahi
Emirate: Sharjah – Khor Fakkan
Education: Master’s degree in special education, preparing for a PhD in philosophy.
Favourite activities: Bungee jumping
Favourite quote: “My people and I will not settle for anything less than first place” – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
