Misellanious News Five deny assault and kidnap charges   02-02-2012

Dubai: Five men have denied kidnapping an electrician — whom onlookers thought had been attempting to commit suicide when they saw him calling for help from the window of a flat where he was confined. Pedestrians alerted police that a half-naked man had been spotted attempting to commit suicide and shouting from the window of a flat in the Russian cluster at Dubai International City. A Yemeni policeman said when they arrived at the scene it was discovered the 28-year-old Bangladeshi man, K.S., was actually crying for help. Prosecutors accused five men, four Indians and a 34-year-old Bangladeshi, of forcibly kidnapping K.S. from the Fish Market in Sharjah then taking him to Dubai and locking him in the flat. The defendants pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance. "No we didn't kidnap him," said one of the Indian men, 29-year-old C.M., when he defended himself before Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout. According to the charge sheet, prosecutors accused C.M., 32-year-old R.M. and 38-year-old S.M. of luring the victim to the Fish Market then brutally assaulting him before forcing him into a car and taking him to the flat. Money Meanwhile 34-year-old Q.Q. and the fourth Indian suspect, 37-year-old R.L., were accused of allowing the others to lock the victim up in a flat against his will. Prosecution records said the suspects kidnapped K.S. and confined him in an act of revenge because he stole their money. "The claimant himself, K.S., was being prosecuted before a court for stealing the money of the suspects in this case. Today [Tuesday] a court found him guilty of theft and jailed him. I ask the court to club those two cases together," the five defendants' lawyer asked Presiding Judge Barghout in courtroom nine. All the defendants pleaded innocent yesterday. K.S. testified the suspects asked him over the phone to meet them at the Fish Market in Sharjah. "Five or six men, including C.M., R.M. and S.M., arrived at the bus stop. They ganged up against me and pulled me forcibly into their car. They forced me to sit on the back seat… they beat hard. Then they tied me up and locked me in the flat… they repeatedly assaulted me and asked me why did I steal their money from their flat. When they went out for dinner, I freed my arms and opened the window and cried for help," K.S. told prosecutors. Records said the defendants went back to the flat and stopped the victim from shouting. The Yemeni policeman said they raided the flat and arrested the defendants. The trial continues.