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A party-goer, found guilty in absentia of stealing an Apple Watch from a new friend who refused to repay money owed for a booze run, is fighting to clear his name in court.
In April, the High Criminal Court sentenced the Bahraini to three years in prison for snatching the smart timepiece from a Saudi visitor, which cost its owner BD277.
The accused was at large when the case first came to court and has now taken up the option to appear before judges in person to lodge an objection against the original guilty verdict.
The court assigned a state-appointed attorney to represent the 25-year-old objector, who lives in Buri.
According to court documents, the accused snatched the Apple Watch Series 7 gadget from the unemployed Saudi when he refused to reimburse him for drinks he purchased on the man’s behalf.
The 24-year-old Saudi had testified that he came to Bahrain to party, and met the suspect at a nightclub. They became fast friends and added each other on social media platform Snapchat, he recounted.
“After getting to know each other and speaking for some time, I invited him to my apartment one afternoon in August, and he spent time with me there,” he earlier told the Public Prosecution.
“My fellow Saudi friends joined us after a bit, and they said they wanted to drink, so the defendant went to a store at an industrial area and brought us some alcohol.
“We all drank together, and my friends left at 6pm. When they were gone, I got in my car to go back home to Saudi Arabia, when the man accosted me, demanding that I pay up.”
The Bahraini reportedly got in the car with the tourist and asked him for BD20, but the motorist stopped at a petrol station and asked him to leave.
Though he persisted at first, the defendant eventually stepped out of the vehicle, but in a moment of distraction managed to pull the Saudi’s watch off his wrist.
Documents revealed that the watch-owner unsuccessfully attempted to get his accessory back, but the man resisted and left the scene.
The GDN earlier reported that the scuffle was captured by security cameras at the petrol station, and forensic experts found the defendant’s fingerprints on the car door left during the brief struggle.
The trial continues.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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