DUBAI // A 17-year-old girl stole thousands of dirhams in cash and jewellery worth Dh91,000 from her mother to give to four students who were blackmailing her, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
Prosecutors said Pakistanis M H, 19, M A H, 20, M R, 18 and A H, 22, threatened to post private pictures of their compatriot, R L, on Facebook if she did not pay them.
M H, M A H, M R and A H allegedly pushed the victim to steal Dh14,000 from her mother in addition to the jewellery. When R L said she could no longer pay, they beat her up.
The four students face charges of issuing threats, blackmail, and physical assault, which they denied in court.
The victim said in records that she had been friends with M H since March last year. On one occasion M H asked to use R L’s phone. “I didn’t know he forwarded some of my private pictures from my device to his through WhatsApp,” said R L.
Soon after M H asked for money. “I told him I didn’t have much so he threatened me, saying he forwarded pictures from my phone and that he would post them on Facebook if I didn’t pay him, he even showed me the pictures,” said R L.
M H and his three friends posted private pictures of R L’s friend as a threat, after which the teenager began stealing cash from her mother’s purse. She said M H, M A H, M R and A H started sending her threatening text messages.
“In December last year, M H was fined Dh4,000 after being involved in a traffic accident and forced me to pay the amount,” said R L.
In January this year, R L stopped paying the four students and told them she would use the threatening text messages against them if they did not stop.
Prosecutors said M H met with R L and managed to delete all the messages from the girl’s phone. He then showed her a video clip of him and his friends assaulting a man and told her: “If you don’t pay, this will happen to you”.
On March 26 this year, R L said she paid M H, M A H, M R and AH Dh8,000 and stole some of her mother’s jewellery. When she no longer had cash or jewellery to give, M H, M A H, M R and A H assaulted her near her school.
“I called police after they assaulted me,” said R L.
“When my sister told me, I went to meet M H who denied everything but I snatched his phone and found pictures of my sister,” testified R L’s sister, M L, 20.
The next hearing will be on September 10.
salamir@thenational.ae
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The%20specs
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A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Southampton 2
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Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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