Dubai Court sentences man to jail for molesting daughter

Dubai Court sentences man to jail for molesting daughter

By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter

Published: June 23, 2008, 23:33

Dubai: A man will spend five years in prison for molesting his seven-year-old adopted daughter but his wife has been cleared of filming the sexual abuse due to lack of evidence.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 53-year-old Emirati man to an additional three years in jail and a similar jail term for his 46-year-old compatriot wife for registering the girl as their daughter after issuing a forged birth certificate for her in 2001.

The Court also sentenced the girl's Iranian biological mother and a 30-year-old Emirati housewife to five years in jail each because they forged the girl's birth certificate and submitted it to a government hospital for the couple to claim that they were the real parents.

The Iranian biological mother will be deported after serving her jail term.

Records said the foster parents bought the girl from her biological mother, whose pregnancy was the result of an illegitimate affair, in 2001 before registering her as their daughter after issuing a forged birth certificate.

According to the Public Prosecution's Bill of Impeachment, the foster father was charged with undressing and molesting the girl while his wife was charged with aiding and abetting her husband by filming the abuse.

"I am a God-fearing Muslim and a haj.. I brought her up the best possible way. And there is no way on earth I could have done such a thing," said the father who strongly refuted his charges before court earlier. His 46-year-old wife also pleaded innocent.

The couple's lawyer Eisa Bin Haidar, of Bin Haidar Group Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News he will appeal the initial verdict and seek his clients' innocence before the higher court.

Records said the housewife mediated between the foster parents and the four-month pregnant biological mother, who agreed to sell the girl for Dh15,000.

Police learnt about the incident after the seven-year-old broke the news first to a friend of the family.

"I once asked him to stop ... but he threatened to beat me if I told anyone," testified the victim.

She said the 53-year-old man removed her clothes and abused her a number of times while the woman filmed what he did on a camera and a cell phone. She claimed that they used to put bad movies on and have sex in front of her.