Worker who stole cheques gets suspended jail term

Court hands lenient punishment to defendant who stole them for eye treatment

Aworker, who stole three cheques from an artworks company after his request for a medical leave to treat his eyes was rejected, was handed a three-month suspended jail sentence.

The company’s Indian supervisor discovered that three blank cheques were stolen from the safe and that the passport of a 25-year-old Indian worker was also missing last month.

Once the supervisor called up the worker and checked with him if he had taken the cheques, the latter denied it at first but then called again and admitted that he did.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of stealing from his workplace.

Citing grounds of leniency, presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi suspended the defendant’s three-month jail term for a period of three years.

“I did. I have partial blindness in my eye and I asked the boss for a leave to go for treatment at home but he refused. I took the cheques because I needed money for treatment,” the weeping defendant argued in court as he pleaded guilty.

The Indian accused told the court that he was forced to do what he did and that there was a labour dispute between him and his employer.

He produced a court slip confirming that there is a pending labour case at the Dubai Labour Court. According to the primary ruling, the defendant will be deported.