ABU DHABI// Three men who kidnapped their bosses’ daughters in two unrelated cases were all jailed on Monday.
The Criminal Court heard almost identical cases in which the men had held the young women as hostages to force each of their bosses to pay them money they claimed they were owed.
But the length of the jail terms they received from the head of the court, Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer, were different because of the way they treated their hostages.
The first kidnapper, from India, received 10 years because he had tortured his victim.
He beat her up, insulted her verbally and brought poor quality food that he forced her to eat by pushing her head down into the plate.
The woman was left severely traumatised by her ordeal.
In the other case, because a Lebanese man and his nephew treated their hostage with respect and kindness, they were given three years.
The woman said she often forgot she was imprisoned because the two men pampered her so much.
They provided her with a television, high quality food and reminded her of prayer timings.
They continually apologised for kidnapping her, but said they had issues to resolve with her father.
Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Abdul Baseer explained the reasoning behind the differences in the length of the sentences he gave.
“The legislator has set a minimum and maximum penalty for each crime because the circumstances of each crime differ,” he said.
He said UAE laws give judges leeway to decide on the severity of the punishment received.
hdajani@thenational.ae