Too much detail to be untrue, says Abu Dhabi judge

ABU DHABI // An appeals judge said a case alleging two Emirati men broke into a Somali restaurant, stole the safe and took it to a school is too detailed to be denied.

SD and EM are accused of taking the safe, which restaurant owners said contained Dh47,000, while IM, who is Sudanese, watched the road.

They then took the safe to the Philippine Academy where JD, a Filipino, works.

JD said EM had called him and told him to leave the school door open.

The next morning, JD awoke to find the safe inside the back gate, where the rubbish bins are loaded.

JD called EM and asked him to take the safe away. EM came with his team while JD prepared tools to break open the safe.

The men found Dh35,000, with EM and SD taking Dh15,000 and IM and JD getting Dh100. There was no mention in court of the remainder. They then loaded the safe into a pick-up truck and left.

All the defendants except JD have denied the accusations against them.

"We have to be logical here, you need to give me full answers, not just 'yes' and 'no'," said the judge of the Court of Appeals. "Where did JD come up with this tale from if none of it is true?

"There was a break-in and a safe was stolen; what's your explanation?"

JD said during a police investigation that a month earlier, EM had brought him a safe to keep at the school and when they broke into it they found ATM cards and airline tickets.

A verdict is to be announced tomorrow.

hdajani@thenational.ae