Pinoy Jailed for Dubai Fire Told to Complete Sentence
DUBAI: The Dubai Court of Appeal has ordered a Filipino salesman, who was awarded three months’ imprisonment after being convicted of starting a fire in the BurJuman mall in October, to complete his sentence, media reports said.
Dubai Criminal Court had jailed E R, 43, in January after hearing how he set fire to cardboard boxes in the shop where he worked after being denied a transfer to a branch in Jebel Ali, reported The National.
M K, security head at Carrefour supermarket where E R’s company rented a shop, reportedly told the court at a previous hearing: “If we were even seconds late, E R could have killed many people, burnt the whole place down or caused a massive explosion because there were many flammable materials, such as cleaning liquids and perfumes in the store where he started the fire.”
M K was quoted as saying that he received a call informing him of the fire, but it had been extinguished by the time he arrived.
“I went back to the camera recording and saw that E R went inside the store, remained there for about five minutes before coming out. Just after he left, other employees entered the showroom, and immediately ran out saying there was a fire,” M K further said.
M K added that when he questioned E R about the fire “he confessed without any kind of force or pressure”.
The accused, however, denied starting the fire deliberately. “It happened by mistake, I did not mean to do it,” he reportedly told judges.
He will be deported after completing his jail term, The National reported.