Students accused in Dubai court of stealing phone from deaf man

One of the accused spoke to the man using sign language before they attacked the deaf man in a dark street, prosecutors say.

DUBAI // Two students assaulted a deaf man and stole his mobile phone and money after claiming they needed the phone to make an urgent call, a court has heard.

Egyptian A A, 18, and 20-year-old Z A, from Sudan, were charged at Dubai Criminal Court yesterday with forceful theft, which they both denied.

Records show that the defendants saw 22-year-old Moroccan K A in Rigga, Deira.

“A A came to me and asked for a cigarette and it was then he knew I was deaf,” he said.

“Z A learned from A A that I was deaf, so he started talking to me using sign language.”

The Moroccan added that the Sudanese student told him he needed to make a phone call and asked if he could use his phone.

K A then walked with him as he wanted to make sure he got his phone back, but as they reached a dark street, the students started talking to each other and then one of them slapped the Moroccan before the other threw several punches, it was claimed.

“When I tried to defend myself, one of them struck me from behind on my head with a hard object and I fainted,” K A said. When he woke up a few minutes later, he saw the two walking away, so he called police after realising that they had taken his phone and Dh500 in cash from his wallet.

Prosecutors said that A A confessed, saying that the pair sold the phone for Dh1,000, splitting the money in half.

The two said that the Moroccan had dropped the charges against them, though they did not have any documents to back their claim.

The next hearing has been scheduled for December 30.