Church pastor’s 20-month legal fight is over after court upholds acquittal on theft charge
A church minister who was accused of locking a man in an office and stealing more than Dh100,000 from him will be able to return home after his acquittal was upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeal.
British philanthropist Edward Adeagbo, 52, and his four British friends, aged 37, 41, 45 and 48, denied charges of theft and confinement in November last year and were all found not guilty by Dubai Criminal Court in July this year.
But prosecutors appealed, seeking a conviction, which extended the men’s legal battle to nearly 20 months. Dubai Court of Appeal rejected the prosecutors’ petition and upheld the men’s acquittal.
On April 9 last year, the minster and his friends were reported to police by a Ugandan, who claimed the men had assaulted him at his friend’s office in Business Bay. He said they had snatched his phone and then pushed him and dragged him to a meeting room next door.
The Ugandan said the men had the safe from his hotel room and threatened him, holding broken glass to his neck to obtain the passcode. The Ugandan said he relented and the men took Dh100,000, as well as €9,000 (Dh38,933) and his passport.
The nature of the relationship between the five men and the Ugandan was not revealed but the defence lawyer, Maasouma Al Sayyegh, an Emirati, told the court that the men had been involved in a business deal. She said the men were buying gold from the Ugandan and that he had conned them.
“He uses the same amount of gold to con as many people as he can,” she told judges.
After being acquitted, Mr Adeagbo, who went bankrupt in the UK while waiting for the final decision on his case in Dubai, told The National that he and the four co-accused were actually the victims of the Ugandan con artist who took their money in a gold scam.
“I have been doing philanthropic work in Africa for the past 20 years, during which time I was raising money through my church – Precious Stones Christian Centre in Leyton, London – and succeeded in helping many and sponsoring students,” he said.
He was advised to deal in raw gold to make a profit to fund further activities.
“I did so with the help of my friends, who provided the cash to buy the gold. It was successful and the profit was used to pay university fees for some students in Uganda,” he said.
They met the Ugandan man but discovered after handing him money that he was linked to several gold scams.
“When I sat with him in the office, we made a voice recording of the whole meeting that proves we were victims, and in the recording – which the court would not listen to – the man admitted the scam,” Mr Adeagbo said. “He even apologised to me, saying that, had he known I was a pastor, he wouldn’t have done this.”
Mr Adeagbo’s friend, a financial consultant in the UK, missed the birth of his first baby while on bail in Dubai and said the defendants struggled to survive in Dubai. “We had to live off the money sent by our families and friends,” the 37-year-old said.
They are still waiting for their passports to be returned.