09 September, 2008

The beach romp...

Two Britons charged with sexual activity on a Dubai beach had their hearing adjourned for a month on Tuesday because the policeman who caught them failed to appear in the witness stand.



Uhh?



If the defendant fails to appear, isn't an arrest warrent issued?



Here we have the prosecution's star, only, witness failing to appear and the case is adjourned. For one month?



That can't be right.



Gulf News report is here.

UPDATE

The story was updated overnight and now says that MP didn't turn up either, as she is 'fatigued'.

It's all a bit of a fiasco.
Posted by Seabee at 11:56 pm

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIwHyrDRPqQ

The Crown Prince's brother. What a guy!

10 September, 2008 01:50
Anonymous said...

Seabee:

The report says the defendant failed to turn up. That is far more serious a matter than a witness failing to show up.

The excuse given was: "she was sick and tired"(her lawyer).

An arrest warrant wasn't issued; the case was adjourned. I'll say the defendant was lucky (irrespective of guilt or innocence--that hasn't been decided yet).

I'm not sure whether the report you read was the one you linked to?

10 September, 2008 11:07
Anonymous said...

The defendant in a criminal case (as opposed to a civil case) has to appear before the court. That is the condition of their bail. The alternative would be that they would be in a holding cell during the trial.

Trials take a very long time to process because judges adjourn to anything from 2 to 4 weeks without thinking much about it. It is most likely that there are less chambers and judges than the cases they get.

Failure to appear before the court results in a fine of 100-150dhs or something along these lines.

For example, lawyers often advise their clients to avoid going to court on the days of the verdict.

The reason for this is that if the verdict is against their client, they would not be held in a jail cell while the lawyer appeals the verdict.

It is most likely that the lawyer advised his client to not come to court.

10 September, 2008 13:42
Seabee said...

They updated the original report I posted about - the original only said the witness didn't turn up, the updated version now says that the defendant didn't turn up either.

10 September, 2008 16:24
rosh said...

True Seabee! GN switched it around. Don't be shocked, it's only GN - they love to drag down standards, everyday :)

10 September, 2008 17:53

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