A British businesswoman and an Irish welder
convicted of having drunken sex in the back of a taxi
in Dubai have been sentenced to two months in jail
after losing an appeal. Rebecca Blake, 30, from
Dorking, Surrey, and Conor McRedmond, 28, from
Tullamore, Co. Offaly, had spent a year fighting the
allegations.
Witnesses said recruitment executive Blake stripped
off before straddling McRedmond, who had his jeans
pulled down.
The pair denied the accusations and yesterday said
they were ‘disappointed’ by the outcome, which will
see both deported after serving their sentences.
Blake, who was sacked from her £120,000-a-year
post, said: ‘I am devastated by this result and gutted
this has been dragging on for a year. I cannot wait to
get home and start my life now but I am very scared
about going to prison.’
McRedmond has been living in Dubai for four years,
said: ‘I am disappointed after coming this far and
fighting these allegations for so long. I feel they are
making an example of us.’
Blake and McRedmond do not have to go to jail
immediately and can decide when to hand themselves
in – but if they are arrested in the meantime or get
into trouble with the law , they will be taken straight
to prison.
They cannot leave the country until they have served
their sentence. The pair said they had been financially
crippled by the case after spending more than
€50,000 fighting to clear their names.
Blake, who moved to Dubai in September 2011, has
not been able to find work since she was sacked and
neither of them can leave the country after having
their passports confiscated.
Blake and McRedmond were arrested on May 4 last
year after going on a ten-hour drinking binge. The
pair met hours earlier at a brunch, where they
admitted getting drunk on free-flowing wine and
vodka in an all-inclusive €45-a-head deal.
They carried on drinking at a hotel and got into a taxi
together at about 10pm.
Taxi driver Qaiser Khan, 30, claimed within minutes of
getting in, Blake had taken her top off and was
writhing on top of McRedmond while ‘making the
sounds of a woman having sex’.
He pulled over on Sheikh Zayed road and summoned
policeman Abdullah Obaid Khamis, who told the court
that he found the pair having sex and interrupted
them by tapping on the window.
He told prosecutors: ‘They kept having sex for four
minutes. The man’s shirt was open, his trousers were
down to his knees and the woman was not wearing
any underwear.’
The taxi driver alleged Blake offered him ‘a lot of
money’ to tell prosecutors they had been kissing
rather than having sex, but he refused.
Blake and McRedmond, who works as a manager at
Kelly Steel engineering firm, said the allegations had
been trumped up after they rowed with the taxi driver
about taking a longer route home.
The pair were originally convicted in November in the
criminal court, where they were both sentenced to
three months in jail and given a €630 fine for drinking
alcohol – a crime in the Islamic country.
The sentence was challenged in the Court of Appeal
in February, which cut the sentence by a month and
reduced the fine.
But the Supreme Court – the highest court in the
United Arab Emirates – refused to drop the charges
altogether, despite medical reports proving the couple
did not have sex.
Their lawyer Shaker al Shammary yesterday said the
statements of the two witnesses were inconsistent,
adding: ‘They threatened to complain about the taxi
driver and he beat them to it – yet there is no
mention of their dispute in the Supreme Court
judgment.
‘The medical records show what the witnesses said
was not true but this was not taken into account in
the ruling.’
The duo’s only options now are to beg for a royal
pardon from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al
Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, or they can serve their
time and challenge the deportation order in the
courts.
McRedmond said: ‘We find ourselves in exactly the
same position we were in after the original verdict but
thousands of pounds poorer.
‘Any court in the world would accept the medical
evidence above all else. I love Dubai and wanted to
carry on living here but I am left without a choice.’
There were fears their failure to clear their names is
part of a crackdown from Dubai authorities on expats
flouting their strict rules. Vince Acors and Michelle
Palmer, a British couple caught having sex on a
beach, were treated more leniently in 2008 when they
were convicted on the same charge of indecency and
ordered to serve three months in prison, but received
a suspended sentence on appeal.

source : http://www.naijanext.com

hi mod please put this post on homepage
for people to see