Abu Dhabi court orders man to pay Dh20,000 to a young girl he impersonated online

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Court ruled that a young man must pay the guardian of a minor girl Dh20,000 as moral compensation for his daughter, after he was criminally convicted of impersonating her by creating an electronic account in her name, publishing her pictures and using it to chat with young men, which harmed her reputation and privacy and caused her psychological and moral damage. In detail, a man, in his capacity as the natural guardian of his minor daughter, filed a lawsuit against a young man, demanding that he be obligated to pay his daughter Dh51,000 in compensation for all the damages that befell her, in addition to obligating him to pay the fees, expenses, and attorney's fees. He pointed out that the defendant created an electronic account and falsely attributed it to his teenage daughter, who had not reached the age of majority, and posted her picture on it, impersonated her, and published and circulated her pictures through information technology means, which prompted him to file a report with the competent authorities. He explained that the defendant was criminally convicted and sentenced to two months' imprisonment with a suspended sentence, and a fine of Dh20,000, with an order to delete the photos and close the account and email. The plaintiff asserted that the defendant’s actions resulted in material and moral damages, due to harming his daughter’s reputation and violating her privacy, and the psychological pain, fear, distress, anxiety, and embarrassment she suffered. The defendant submitted a memorandum in his defence, requesting at the end of it that the lawsuit be dismissed. For its part, the court explained in the reasoning of its ruling that it is established in jurisprudence that a ruling issued in criminal matters has authority in a civil case, as long as it makes a necessary decision regarding the occurrence of the act common to both the criminal and civil cases, its legal description, and its attribution to its perpetrator. It explained that the plaintiff, in his capacity as the natural guardian of his daughter, filed his lawsuit to demand compensation for the damage caused by the defendant creating an electronic account and falsely attributing it to his daughter, and using it to publish her pictures, which constituted an infringement on her privacy, in addition to keeping her pictures in circumstances not permitted by law, with the intention of harming her. It explained that the act for which the defendant was criminally convicted is the same common basis on which the current civil case is based, and therefore his responsibility for the error warranting compensation is established. The court referred to what was stated in the criminal judgment records regarding the defendant’s confession to violating the privacy of the plaintiff’s daughter by copying her pictures from social media sites and keeping them, creating an electronic account falsely attributed to her, and supporting it with her pictures for the purpose of chatting with young men while impersonating her. It pointed out that the element of error was proven based on the binding nature of the criminal ruling, and according to the common basis between the criminal and civil cases, noting that the harm on which the compensation claim was based was represented in the abuse of the plaintiff’s daughter and the reputation of her family, as well as the negative social and psychological effects resulting from this undisciplined behaviour. It explained that this behavior revealed beyond any doubt a lack of awareness of the consequences of the act and what it might cause in terms of harm to others, concluding that moral and ethical damage had been inflicted on the plaintiff’s daughter, represented by pain, sorrow, and sadness as a result of the violation of her privacy and the impersonation of her identity, which is damage that warrants compensation for the psychological harm it caused. The court ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff, in his capacity as the natural guardian of his daughter, Dh20,000 as moral compensation for her, in addition to obligating him to pay the fees and expenses of the lawsuit.