DUBAI // A drunk British flight attendant who claimed she mistakenly took the wrong phone home has landed in court on theft charges.
In August last year, C C, 24, an Emirates Airline flight attendant, was at a hotel nightclub on Sheikh Zayed Road.
She said she placed her purse on a table then went to the dance floor where she danced and drank with friends. After about two hours, she said, she picked up her purse and left.
“I was tired and went to sleep but the next morning I was surprised to find an HTC smartphone in my purse that was not mine,” she said.
“I tried to look through it for any clue about its owner but everything was in Russian. I replaced the sim card with mine and changed the language to English but the data was not available.”
“I then tried to call the last dialled number on the phone but it was turned off.”
C C then switched the sim cards and left the mobile on her table and went to work, forgetting about it until she was contacted by police a few days later.
She denied stealing the phone when talking to police, saying she failed to report the theft because of her hectic schedule.
“I was busy and I didn’t know the procedures,” she said.
The Ukrainian owner of the phone, V K, reported the incident to police on the night of August 12. She said her entire handbag had been stolen.
“It contained my phone, apartment key, bank ATM card, health-insurance card, cash and my ID,” she said.
Police investigations tracked the phone to C C but V K’s other belongings were never found.
At the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours, C C was charged with theft and consuming alcohol without a licence. She denied stealing the phone but confessed to the alcohol charge.
The judge gave her a suspended three-month jail term for theft and fined her Dh2,000 for drinking.
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