DUBAI // A cleaner accused of attacking a woman from behind and snatching a smartphone from her pocket presented a receipt in court to show that he had bought the device.
At Dubai Criminal Court on Tuesday, the 28-year-old Filipino denied stealing from his 31-year-old countrywoman on February 10 as she was unlocking her apartment door.
“I bought the phone,” he said through a translator before handing over the receipt, a move that was met with silence in the courtroom.
The woman had earlier said: “He reached to my left pocket took my Samsung phone and Dh200 in cash then pulled my hair and arm before he ran away.”
She said she screamed as he ran and people gathered around her near her Al Satwa home as she called police.
“I saw him from the kitchen window as he pulled her hair, then I hurried out to help her. She told me he took her phone and some cash but I didn’t see him do that,” said the woman’s 30-year-old Filipina flatmate.
A policeman told prosecutors that he investigated the report lodged by the woman.
“She told us that he was demanding her phone and cash but she refused so he stole them,” the officer said.
A verdict is expected on June 18.
salamir@thenational.ae
