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A man, who was found guilty of stealing an Apple Watch from his clubbing buddy, claimed in court that the victim had framed him, after falsely accusing him of stealing his girlfriend’s heart.
In April, the High Criminal Court sentenced the Bahraini to three years in prison for stealing the smart timepiece from a Saudi fellow club-goer, which cost its owner 2,700 Emirati dirhams (BD277).
Since the ruling was made in absentia, as the man was at large when the case first came to court, the defendant was allowed to lodge an objection against the verdict once he appeared before judges.
“The Saudi witness is one of my friends,” the 25-year-old objector stated in a handwritten letter submitted to the court. “On the day of the incident, he called me and I went to him in Juffair.
“He asked me about my relationship with his girlfriend, and I swore to God the Almighty that I didn’t have any relations with her.
“He started to threaten and insult me publicly, hurling the ugliest words at me, even though I did nothing to him.
“Your Honour, I wish that you would consider my case with your compassionate, fatherly eyes. I am full of confidence in your just rulings, that you will conclude that the victim was slandering me.”
The GDN earlier reported that the two men met at a nightclub, and that the court heard that the robbery occurred after the 24-year-old Saudi refused to pay the Bahraini back for an alcohol run.
According to court documents, the accused snatched the Apple Watch series 7 from the unemployed Saudi man when he did not agree to reimburse him for drinks he bought on his behalf.
The robbery victim 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 the social media Snapchat platform, 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 liquor store in an industrial area and brought us 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 continue that the watch-owner pushed at the thief and attempted to get his accessory back, but the man resisted and made away with the loot.
The scuffle was reportedly captured by security cameras at the petrol station, and forensic experts found the defendant’s hand and fingerprints on the car door as part of the brief struggle.
Judges set September 30 as the day a verdict will be issued in the case.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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