DUBAI // A tourist was today cleared of kidnapping a man and demanding a Dh600 ransom from his girlfriend.
WS, a 36-year-old from China, was accused of taking PH hostage on July 19, 2008, along with a number of accomplices who were said to remain at large.
Prosecutors said the kidnapped man - whose age, nationality and profession were not mentioned - was threatened with weapons and held hostage at an abandoned house in Al Rashidiya. His captors threatened to kill him if he did not call his girlfriend and ask for the ransom money.
The tourist was also cleared of assaulting the hostage and causing him injuries that required treatment for 20 days.
The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance heard that the prosecution had only one witness testimony - a policeman who checked the house where the hostage was allegedly held.
The policeman, AM from Al Muraqabat station, said he collected 13 pieces of evidence from the house. A fingerprint taken from the house was said to match that of the tourist.
salamir@thenational.ae
