Man ‘threatened to kill woman and family if she did not pay him money’

Defendant tells Dubai court he had asked for a loan from the woman as a family member needed treatment.

DUBAI // A man threatened to kill a woman and her entire family if she did not pay him more than Dh100,000, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday.

The Chinese woman, 33, told prosecutors that she received insulting text messages from a number she did not know and ignored them.

“But the messages kept coming until August so I went to the police station and reported the matter,” she said.

Later she said she received another message that read: “You old dog, if you don’t pay me, I will kill you and every single member of your family.”

The last text included a bank account number to which she was ordered to transfer 200,000 yuan, equal to about Dh106,600.

The Chinese defendant, 36, was the registered owner of the phone number. At the police station, the woman identified him as an acquaintance of her husband.

“During questioning he said he only sent her two messages asking for the money as a loan because he needed them for the treatment of a family member,” said a policeman.

Police did not find the phone or the Simcard used to send the texts. “He confessed that he destroyed them,” said the policeman.

He denied charges of issuing threats to kill and issuing insults in March. The next hearing is scheduled for December 8.