Facebook blackmail puts woman in the dock

A Moroccan businesswoman allegedly threatened her partner that she would post inappropriate pictures of him and his family on Facebook if he did not drop his complaints against her, the Dubai Criminal Court heard on Sunday.

NFA, 33, is also accused of abusing ARA, 53, Emirati businessman, over the phone and via text messages.

ARA testified that he received a number of threatening and abusive text messages on his mobile from NFA.

He knew that the sender was NFA because the messages included information that nobody, except her, knew and that she was the only one he has problems with.

The Prosecution noted that some of the text messages received from different international phone numbers included names of some lawyers of a previous case that the accused was involved in.

NFA told the court that she had considered suicide because of the continuous struggles over the last three years.

She denied the accusations saying she had been involved in 11 criminal cases filed by ARA since their partnership ended in 2008 and has been acquitted in every case.

She added that her former partner had used an old passport copy of her’s to get a mobile phone and send the messages himself.

The Prosecution noted that ARA submitted documents on which the accused used different signatures.

"This is going to kill me, your honour. I just want to end my life, as this man will not stop," she told judge Maher Al Mahdi who answered her saying: “Nobody will die here today, God willing.”

Her lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani presented medical documents proving her mental and physical state.

He also said ARA had staged the case maliciously.

"The main evidentiary proof presented was the defendant's passport copy linking her to the mobile SIM card, your honour," he said.

“My client had legally changed her name a year before the alleged crime occurred.”

“This copy is in the possession of ARA since their business partnership days,” said Al Ghailani who submitted to the court proofing documents.

Court records also revealed that a previous case filed in September 2008 accused NFA of the same charges, but was acquitted.

The court adjourned the case for verdict on October 30.

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