Colleagues caught kissing on Dubai beach fined and jailed

DUBAI // A couple caught kissing on a Dubai beach were today each sentenced to a year in prison and fined Dh1,000.

The Court of Misdemeanours threw out the defence of the Indian F K, 28, who said he was trying to resuscitate his co-worker J M, 25, a Filipina, after she stopped breathing.

An Emirati child saw the two, who worked at a McDonald's restaurant, embracing and told his mother he had seen a man and woman "wrestling" on Jumeirah Open Beach.

The mother watched for an hour as the pair kissed and touched each other intimately.

After their arrest, they admitted their actions to prosecutors, saying they fell in love after meeting at the McDonald's two and a half years ago, and they often spent time together after work.

On December 17 last year they had drinks at a hotel in Deira and went to the beach about 9.30pm.

"I sat on his leg and we kissed," the woman told prosecutors. She said the man held her only to warm her up as it was cold.

The man told prosecutors they had each drunk five glasses of Scotch. "I kissed her because I love her," he said.

In court, the couple denied kissing in public, but confessed to drinking alcohol without a licence. They were jailed for kissing and fined for drinking.

They will be deported after serving their jail terms.

salamir@thenational.ae