Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017

Dubai: A jobless woman who used her friend’s Emirates ID card to buy 10 mobile phones and Etisalat SIM cards and making Dh53,000 worth of phone calls has been jailed for a year.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 29-year-old Emirati woman of duping Etisalat by claiming to be someone else [using her countrywoman friend’s ID] to unlawfully acquire the ten mobile phones and SIM cards. She also abused the telecommunication services and make calls for which she did not pay.

In 2013, the Court of First Instance sentenced the defendant in absentia to three years in jail.

Later, she turned herself in and requested a retrial, during which she pleaded not guilty and denied using her friend’s ID and giving it to Etisalat to purchase phones and SIM cards.

She also denied making calls worth Dh53,000 without paying the bills.

During the retrial, presiding judge Mohammad Jamal sentenced the woman to one year in jail.

The defendant’s friend testified that the accused was her best friend and worked with her at Dubai International Airport.

“One day she told me that she had a billing problem with Etisalat and asked me to lend her my ID to transfer her mobile number to my name … and I did so based on trust. Afterwards, I received five different bills from Etisalat for unknown numbers. I visited one of the service centres where I was told that eight mobile phones and SIM cards had been purchased in my name. I told the employee that I did not purchase those products. When I confronted the defendant, she claimed that it was her sister who did so. I asked her to cancel those numbers, and when she was late in doing so, I complained to the police,” the friend said.

Records showed the friend was later informed that the defendant purchased ten mobile phones and didn’t pay the bills.

An Emirati employee at Etisalat confirmed that the accused visited her at the service centre in Sharjah and filled in the application on behalf of the friend.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.

Bassam Za'za', Legal and Court Correspondent

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