Dubai hotel staff defend cleaner accused of theft

Two hotel staff appeared in a Dubai court last week to defend a colleague accused of stealing AED 1,600 (US $435) from a guest’s room, reports Gulf News.

Prosecutors had charged the 21-year-old Pakistani cleaner with stealing the money from a British guest’s room on August 31.

However, shortly before the Dubai Court of First Instance’s presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi meted out the charges, the defendant’s manager and co-worker approached the judges’ bench to request permission to defend the suspect.

After being granted permission the Asian co-worker reportedly told the court: “I am a public relations officer and I’ve known the suspect for nearly six months. He has never committed a wrongdoing. Nobody has ever complained against him. He is a decent and respectful worker. The plaintiff had a number of guests in his room. We don’t know how the money disappeared, but it is impossible for an upright person like him to have committed such an act. I don’t know why the Briton accused the suspect of robbing his money from the room.”

Meanwhile the defendant’s supervisor said when she approached the bench: “He works for me. Any guest has a private safe to put his valuable belongings inside it. The suspect is a very honest person. There are no cameras inside the rooms and the plaintiff accused him. We did not find anything in his room or cabinet when we searched his residence.”

The British complainant testified that when he returned from breakfast he found that the suspect cleaning his room around 10.55 am.

“When I left the hotel and went to rent a car, I discovered that my money was missing. I summoned the police that discovered that the defendant had entered the room while I was away,” reportedly said the Briton.

An Emirati policeman said surveillance cameras showed that the suspect opened the door and walked into the room.

The defendant admitted that he entered the room to clean it.

A verdict is due to be announced later this week.