Jail for UAE man who changed his mind about killing himself

ABU DHABI // A man who exchanged romantic messages with a 14-year-old girl shortly before her suicide has been sentenced to three months in prison to be followed by deportation.

S, from Syria, had been talking to the girl as she stood on her balcony minutes before she leapt to her death. He called police accusing her brothers and stepmother of pushing her then returned to his own apartment and slashed his wrists. He was saved after changing his mind and calling an ambulance.

Police found love messages on the mobile phones of both the Syrian man and the girl, as well as messages in which they both talked about suicide. They charged the man with 'beautifying the sin' for being romantically involved with a woman he was not engaged to.

The man said in his defence at the Misdemeanours Court that he planned to marry the girl and believed her claim that she was a university student because she was physically mature for her age.

hdajani@thenational.ae