Dubai Court of Appeals acquitted two Arab businessmen and an Asian employee of the charge of holding five Asian maids inside the company’s headquarters, which led them to flee by tying a number of sheets and using them as a rope and getting out of the window, causing the injury of one of them.
The Court of Appeal annulled a judgment of the court of first instance that convicted the defendants and imprisoned them for six months with suspended execution in addition to the deportation, attributing its ruling to its conviction that the evidence presented by the Public Prosecution Office on the validity of the accusation and the court of first instance was found to be inadequate, and does not indicate a criminal intent of the accused.
According to the verdicts of the verdict, the three defendants did not restrict the freedom of the victim according to what was stated in the investigations, as they were allowed to wander in the apartment in which they lived temporarily until they got a job opportunity with other sponsors, and they were allowed to shop and leave one day before the incident, The door was closed to them at night to protect.
One of the maids reported to the victim in the prosecution's investigations that she presented to the state with a visit visa in search of work, after coordination with the accused employee who received her at the airport and brought her to a company specialized in supplying labor, then a person came and took her to work at his house for three months, and returned her again to the office Unhappy with her performance.
She added that the accused men slapped her and detained her in one of the rooms inside the office, with the rest of the victims, and remained there for about two weeks, without allowing her to leave the apartment despite her petition to go out to meet her needs, but her requests were rejected, pointing out that the defendants were closing the office after them .
She pointed out that the accused employee was bringing food to them in small quantities, pointing out that there was a window in the room where they were staying, but they did not seek pedestrians for their fear of the accused, since there was a person down there who would monitor the place.
She explained that she remained in the office with four other maids for about two weeks, until they finally decided to escape by tying sheets and getting out of the window, but one of them fell, and passers-by saw them and they informed the police station about the incident. The first defendant admitted that the employee was closing the office on the maids upon the instructions of the other defendants, while the second defendant stated that he was ordering the closure of the office for them at night to protect them.
For his part, the defense of the defendants demanded the acquittal of his clients, confirming the absence of the material and moral pillar against them, contradicting the story of the victims, and the accusation of accusation of enrichment at the expense of his clients, as well as the waiver of the maids from the civil lawsuit, which was attributed by the victim’s lawyer to deceiving them before the notary because they did not know In the arabic language.
After reviewing the case, the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling of the first instance court and ruled that the defendants were acquitted of the case for lack of evidence.
A court of first instance convicted the defendants and sentenced them to 6 months suspended imprisonment in addition to deportation.