A half-drunk bottle of strawberry laban led to the identification, arrest and conviction of a man who stole BD50 from the cash register of a grocery store by threatening the shop worker with a dagger.
The High Criminal Court sentenced the unemployed 43-year-old Bahraini to five years in prison for armed robbery.
Although he wore gloves to avoid leaving any traces or fingerprints at the scene of the crime, authorities managed to track the culprit down after lifting his DNA from the bottle.
The 30-year-old Indian shopkeeper recounted the incident to the Public Prosecution, stating that the defendant entered the cold store, strawberry laban bottle in hand.
The accused reportedly did not speak much but just pointed to the locked cabinet where cigarettes were stored, indicating that he wanted to purchase a pack.
After taking a carton out, the worker handed a pack to the defendant who instead asked for a different brand.
When the worker insisted that the defendant pay for the cigarettes, he reportedly took out a dagger and threatened the shop worker who managed to shut the cash register and lock it.
He tried to flee the shop but the defendant blocked his way and managed to wrest the key from the shop worker. He then opened the cash register and took BD50.
He then ran out of the shop, slamming the shop door shut behind him. However, in his haste to get away, he had left the bottle of strawberry laban on the shop counter.
The worker immediately called the police, who arrived at the scene and went through the shop’s CCTV footage in an attempt to identify the accused.
Officers were eventually able to identify the defendant, thanks to the clear video recording of the incident, but also due to the fact that the man was already wanted for similar crimes.
One of the officers showed the shop worker a photo of the defendant from the past, and the employee told them he was ‘100 per cent sure’ that the man who robbed the shop and the man in the image were one and the same.
Authorities had extra evidence to further prove that the defendant was the same wanted man as his DNA information was on file since he already had a criminal record.
When it was sent to the forensic lab for testing, the lip of the strawberry laban bottle was swabbed for traces left behind by the defendant, and the lab was able to confirm that the DNA was a match.
During questioning, the unemployed man admitted to committing the crime though he denied the charges later in court.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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