Dubai court upholds Pinoy’s conviction for stabbing Iranian

A Dubai appellate court upheld Tuesday a five-year jail term for a 22-year-old Filipino convicted of stabbing an Iranian woman and robbing her in a parking lot in Badaa area in April 2009. The court panel presided by Judge Moustapha Shinawi also upheld the deportation order against the Filipino, news site Khaleej Times reported Wednesday. Earlier, the Court of First Instance had sentenced the male defendant, who was not named in the report, to five-year imprisonment and his deportation after serving the jail term on May 27. (See: 2 Pinoys get jail terms for separate offenses in UAE) During the trial, the Filipino denied stabbing the 26-year-old Iranian student on the shoulder and back to rob her on April 8 last year. Court records showed the stabbing was linked to the robbery of the woman’s bank cards, cash (Dh5,000 and 300 Euros) and mobile phone. The Filipino, however, did not notice her mobile phone, which had fallen under her car. She managed to call her girlfriend who in turn called the police. The victim was rushed to Rashid Hospital, where she was confined for a week and then left for her home country. The defendant was arrested at his workplace in Al Quoz Industrial Area. He claimed to have robbed the woman as he was in need of money to send to his family back home. —Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV