The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has begun considering the case of a Gulf man accused of using Snapchat to threaten a girl who wants to marry her by telling her mother that there is a relationship between them if she refuses to meet him after the girl told him that she did not want to complete the relationship. To rule in the hearing of 18 September.
The Public Prosecution issued a referral order against the defendant and restricted the incident in accordance with the articles of the Anti-IT Crimes Law, where he was charged with threatening the victim with abusive words of honor and consideration, in order to get her to do an act, which is to go out with him, using the computer network «Snapchat». He was charged with an act that would improve disobedience by urging the victim to come out with him without a legitimate association.
The defendant said in the interrogation that he told the girl: «If you tell me the news of your mother», and denied that he had pictures of the complainant as claimed to her, pointing out that he lied to her.
During the hearing, the defendant's lawyer, Shaima al-'Amri, argued that the elements of the threat crime had disappeared, pointing out that the defendant is a person of agony as a result of an accident that led to severe brain injuries and inactivity.A copy of the medical reports of the defendant is attached to the defense memo.
She explained that the defendant knew the complainant through the program «Snapchat» for about a year and a half, and continued to communicate, where he was intended from this relationship to culminate in marriage, but the complainant finally contacted him, and informed him not to want to complete the relationship, what He shocked the defendant and asked her to meet him to clarify and understand things, and whether his refusal was caused by his health condition, and his inability to walk, concentrate and sometimes absorb as a result of his brain injury.
The lawyer pointed out that the complainant refused to meet him and go out with him, which led him to tell her spontaneously I will tell your mother if you do not meet me, did not expect that this sentence will lead to felonies.
She stressed that the accused did not understand that his sentence contained a veiled threat, noting that the complainant herself expected at the time of the complaint that the accused would be reprimanded, did not expect things to reach what they are, and waived the complaint and documented her waiver with the notary, and acknowledged that her complaint was It is intended not to be subjected to the accused.
She pointed out that the vocabulary of the case relied on conversations between the accused and the victim through «Snapchat», according to his request to go out with her and he will tell her mother, but the talks did not show whether they had previously come out together before, in addition to the threat element does not find In all the talks, the talks are only a dialogue between two parties, a relationship of knowledge that lasted one and a half years.
Al-Amiri said that the defendant's use of the vocabulary is different from the average person because of his brain injury, which affected his absorptive capacity of the meanings of the vocabulary used in the conversation. That his confession was just an attempt to get her to meet him to discuss some of their own.
The lawyer demanded that the accused be acquitted of the charges against him, and that he should be used to the maximum degree of clemency with him, given that he is a well-known person, known for his good reputation, and did not have the criminal intent of the threat.