Two friends have admitted to robbing a grocery store in revenge after the shopkeeper allegedly shared a CCTV video of them huffing gas, and getting high inside the store, which went viral in their village.
The two men allegedly carried out multiple robberies by threatening to burn down the store in Sadad using a lighter and the same gas that they got high on: butane.
“Yes, we are on bad terms with the shopkeeper and we stole cigarettes from the shop, but robbery wasn’t our intention,” a 26-year-old Bahraini defendant told the leading judge at the High Criminal Court.
“He circulated a video of us using narcotics in Whatsapp groups and everyone in my village, including my mother and relatives, found out about our habit.
“I was born in a village, where our reputation matters. My father is a sharia court judge and my mother is from a well-known family.
“I will be the first to admit that taking drugs was a mistake on our part, but the shopkeeper was responding to our wrong actions with another wrong action.
“If you see someone consuming drugs, you refer him to a rehabilitation facility – you don’t spread footage of him in the act,” the Bahraini said.
The defendant also questioned the Indian shopkeeper’s intention behind reporting the duo as he allegedly informed the police about the robberies almost five months later.
Among the items stolen from the Sadad cold store was a can of ‘extra purified butane lighter fluid’, which the defendants used to get high.
The man’s co-defendant, a 23-year-old Bahraini, earlier testified in Public Prosecution hearings about the multiple robberies which took place in May this year.
He admitted to breaking in to the store by shattering the glass and taking three cigarette packs and then coming back the next day to steal six more.
They also broke the lock of the outdoor refrigerators to steal juice, which was caught by the security camera.
Though they got away with the robbery the first time, the shopkeeper decided to report them when they repeated their actions the next day.
“On the night of the incident, at around 10pm, the two defendants came into the store and began threatening me with fire,” the Indian man earlier testified.
“They held a gas canister and a lighter in my direction and stole several cigarette packs under threat.
“The second day, at around 2pm, they did the same thing and took more cigarette packs and so I called the police.
“Then, when I was looking through security camera videos, I realised that they also broke a fridge lock and stole beverages at 3am.”
A look at the defendants’ criminal records revealed a long history of criminal reports, charges and convictions, including theft and fraud.
The trial continues.
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