DUBAI // A hungry robber who stole Dh15 from a woman in Dubai Mall so he could buy food has been found guilty.
Dubai Criminal Court heard that unemployed Filipino RR, 48, pointed a screwdriver at the stomach of a woman on January 4 and robbed all the money she had on her at the time, Dh15.
He entered a plea of not guilty when he faced the charge of theft.
“I had just left Dubai Mall and started my car when he opened the passenger’s door,” said the Lebanese woman, SA, 32. “He was wearing a mask and holding a sharp tool; he told me, ‘I will kill you, give me money’.”
The woman said she was terrified and started crying, especially because she had very little to give him. She said she told him so and even opened her purse to show him there was not much in it.
As she opened it, the man saw the Dh15, which he snatched before running away.
The woman called police, who tracked down the man through mall car park camera footage.
“He said the idea came to him on the spot, when he saw a woman alone in her car. He said he had never done it before but he was going through financial problems,” said 32-year-old Emirati policeman SEA.
In court on Thursday the Filipino was sentenced to three months in jail, to be followed by deportation.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
