Defendant's lawyer seeks acquittal in Palm villa case

A 25-year-old British national under trial in the Dubai Criminal Court for trying to fraudulently sell a villa that did not belong to him will have to wait until December 15 for the verdict.

The defendant's lawyer yesterday challenged the charges against his client and asked for his acquittal.

The accused, AH, a visitor, is facing a number of other charges, including the forgery and use of another person's passport, using a different name in an official investigation and assault on a policeman, apart from the attempt to sell a villa on The Palm Jumeirah belonging to a man called Mark Jarman.

The Public Prosecution based its charges on testimonies by police sergeant Ahmed Ismail and real estate broker Omran Choudrey.

Ismail testified that Choudrey and the real owner of the villa, Jarman, informed the Jebel Ali investigations office that a person was offering the villa for sale. Posing as buyers, Ismail and Choudrey set up an appointment with the defendant at the villa. When he arrived, Ismail introduced himself as a police officer in order to arrest him. However, AH said the defendant turned violent and resisted arrest.

The broker and the villa owner managed to catch the defendant, who tried to throw a passport into the villa's swimming pool. However, the passport fell outside the pool and when it was checked it turned out to be forged one bearing the defendant's photograph.

Choudrey told the court he had received a phone call from a person in Britain called Marx Astaire, asking him to sell his villa for Dh16 million. He asked the caller to send copies of his passport as well as the documents related to the property. When the broker received the documents he showed them to other brokers, who told him the villa belonged to Mark Jarman.

 

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