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29 March 2024

Visitor brings 3 men in to beat up engineer

Suspect admits to crime (Supplied)

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A 50-year-old Irish visitor allegedly brought into the UAE three Afghans and assigned them to assault a civil engineer because he had prevented him from winning a $100 million contract in Bahrain, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

LO was arrested at Dubai International Airport while attempting to leave the UAE. The three Afghans AK, MA and GH, who fled the country, are being prosecuted in absentia.

The 27-year-old victim AF, Afghani civil engineer, was in the bathroom when he heard some people enter his flat.

“I saw people in my flat through the mirror. The first one asked the second if I was the man and the latter answered yes. They attacked me and pushed me to the sofa before tying my hands and gagging my mouth. They also tortured me with an electric device before dragging me to the bedroom where they tied my legs and covered my eyes and tried to put me in a suit case. They tortured me with the electric device several times before carrying and putting me somewhere,” the victim told investigators.

From time to time, someone came to where they put the victim to ensure that he was still alive.

“I managed to untie my hands and remove the cloth from my eyes. I found myself in the wardrobe. At this moment LO opened the door and was shocked to see that I could release myself. I pushed him away and tried to run away from the flat. He chased me holding the electric device and fired two needles that pierced my fingers. I ran down the tower and called the police,” he said.

The victim found out that his attackers had stolen Dh1,200, US$2,500, 42,000 Niger francs, Uganda shilling 16,000, and 10,000 Mauritanian Ouguiya. The attackers also stole two watches worth $300 value and a mobile phone.

Police arrested LO at Dubai Airport. LO initially denied any knowledge of the crime but later admitted that he had agreed with three Afghans to come to Dubai to assault the victim who had made him lose a contract worth US$100 million.

“I agreed with three Afghans while they were in their country to come to the UAE to take revenge on AF. I bore all of their expenses and paid each one $500 for assaulting AF,” he told investigators.

However, LO denied participating in the assault and told investigators that he had only dropped them at the victim’s building and left immediately. He also said that his accomplices had left the UAE immediately after the assault.

The court will reconvene on March 8.