Pair charged over kidnapping and threatening to kill man and pregnant wife with axe

An American and a Swedish man deny threatening a Pakistani man and his wife in a bid to extort Dh200,000 from them.

DUBAI // An American and a Swede held a man and his pregnant wife hostage and threatened to chop them up with an axe, a court heard.

American G M, 51, and Swede A L, 38, invited Pakistani R H, 34, to a villa in Jumeirah to discuss a project, but when he arrived, the pair assaulted him and took away his phone.

R H escaped and hid in the toilet at a nearby petrol station, but the two managed to lure him back into the villa after promising that the assault would not be repeated.

But the duo again assaulted the man with the help of two unidentified men, and threatened to kill him and his wife then chop them into small pieces unless he payed a Dh200,000 ransom.

The Pakistani told prosecutors he had a business relationship with the defendants and they had agreed to throw a multicultural festival in the UAE.

The men discussed the funding of the festival, which they agreed would cost Dh800,000, but R H said a row over the money led to A L punching him in the face. The American then sat on the victim’s back while the Swede held an axe and threatened to chop R H’s fingers off, the court was told.

He fled and tried to get a petrol station attendant to call police, but the man ignored him.

When he opted to go back to the villa, the victim said he was assaulted again and stripped of his trousers. “They called my wife and told her I was involved in a car accident and lured her into the villa then held her there and threatened to kill her and the baby she is carrying if I didn’t pay them Dh200,000,” the Pakistani said.

He managed to contact his sister and her husband and had them come to the villa with Dh75,000, a cheque for Dh25,000 and Dh6,000 he borrowed from two friends.

The men are said to have taken the money and R H’s belongings and then left the villa.

Police found out about the incident when he went to hospital for treatment for his wounds.

G M and A L were charged with confinement of a person, depriving him of his freedom and seeking a ransom, physical assault and issuing death threats. They deny the charges.