DUBAI // An unemployed man jeopardised his stay in the UAE by robbing a woman of Dh15 to buy food.
Dubai Criminal Court heard that Filipino RR, 48, pointed a screwdriver at the stomach of a woman on January 4 and robbed all the money she had on her at the time, Dh15.
He is charged with theft, which he denied in court.
“I had just left Dubai Mall and started my car when he opened the passenger’s door,” said the Lebanese woman, SA, 32. “He was wearing a mask and holding a sharp tool; he told me, ‘I will kill you, give me money’.”
The woman said she was terrified and started crying, especially because she had very little to give him. She said she told him so and even opened her purse to show him there was not much in it.
As she opened it, the man saw the Dh15, which he snatched before running away.
The woman called police, who tracked down the man through mall car park camera footage.
“He said the idea came to him on the spot, when he saw a woman alone in her car. He said he had never done it before but he was going through financial problems,” said 32-year-old Emirati policeman SEA.
A verdict is expected on April 9.
salamir@thenational.ae
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
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
