DUBAI // A teenager threatened to kill his family with a meat cleaver because he suspected his father had stolen Dh3,000 from him, a court heard on Monday.
But at the Dubai Criminal Court the father of 19-year-old O A pleaded with the judge to set his son free.
Prosecutors say that O A, from the Comoros Islands, went into his family home in Oud Matina brandishing a meat cleaver. He found his father in the living room, then threatened to kill him, his mother and sisters, as well as damaging their house and cars.
The father called police who came and arrested the defendant.
O A denied threatening his family and told the court: “I did not threaten him, he is my father how can I threaten him? I was talking to my mother and asking her about my missing money.”
His father said: “O A wasn’t acting normally that day. I don’t think he was in his right mind. He did not ask me for any money either, I just want him to be good, he doesn’t listen to me.”
The presiding judge asked the father if he wanted the son to be jailed. “If you send him to jail your honour, he is lost and I’m lost after him,” he replied.
The judge also chastised the defendant for his attitude to his parents.
“Who speaks to his father like that?” he said. “He raised you and brought you up he only wants what’s best for you and when talking to your parents you have to do it politely and with utmost respect.”
A verdict is expected on March 10.
salamir@thenational.ae
