Khaberni - The Dubai Primary Civil Court ruled that seven convicts in a theft case, including a woman, are to pay the victim of the incident five million dirhams, representing the value of the unrecovered portion of the money, as well as comprehensive compensation for material and moral damages incurred by him, following the theft of 10 million dirhams from him upon leaving a bank, before the police were able to arrest them and recover more than half of the stolen amount.
In detail, an employee filed a civil lawsuit demanding that seven convicts in a theft case pay him 4.13 million dirhams, representing the value of the unrecovered portion of the money involved in the crime, plus legal interest at a rate of 5% from the date of the incident. He also demanded they be obliged to pay one million dirhams as compensation for material, moral, psychological, future damages, and lost profits, along with legal interest, and that they be ordered to cover the fees and expenses and include accelerated enforcement in the judgment.
He stated in his lawsuit that the Dubai Criminal Court sentenced six of the defendants to seven years in prison and collectively fined them 10 million dirhams, the value of the money involved in the crime, and deported them from the country. It also sentenced the seventh defendant to one month in prison, fined her 20,000 dirhams, and ordered her to return an amount of four million and 879 thousand dirhams, with deportation from the country, and referred the civil lawsuit to the competent court.
The defendants had agreed among themselves to follow bank and financial institution clients with the intention of seizing the money they carried.
The lawsuit documents clarified that they rented an apartment to serve as a temporary headquarters to hide and keep the money obtained from the crimes as part of a pre-planned and organized scheme, and they also prepared a vehicle for use in committing their crimes.
It was revealed that the first defendant was responsible for monitoring the clients until he chose the victim, during a withdrawal of a large sum of money belonging to the company he worked for.
Afterwards, the first defendant contacted the other defendants, conveyed to them the description of the victim and his movements, and they agreed to execute the crime. They headed to the location and immediately after the victim left the bank with the amount, they intercepted him, stole the money from him and fled, but the Dubai police managed to arrest them and recover five million and 871 thousand dirhams of the stolen amount.
The plaintiff requested the defendants be obliged to return the unrecovered amount, in addition to compensation for the harm he suffered, disruption of his business, the burdens of legal procedures, as well as moral damages represented by grief and sorrow due to the incident.
During the hearing of the lawsuit, the plaintiff presented a certificate of the finality of the criminal judgment and the lack of challenge to it, while the defendants attended from their detention - except for the latter who was legally announced and did not attend - and denied their responsibility for the compensation.
The court explained in the reasons for its judgment that the criminal conviction judgment enjoys authenticity before it in relation to the proof of the act constituting the error and its attribution to the perpetrators, and it cannot be re-discussed, and that the elements of civil liability are available, consisting of error, damage, and causal relationship.
It noted that the error was proven against the defendants from the first to the sixth for committing the theft, as well as the seventh defendant’s error in the incident of hiding the defendants and the proceeds, which led to the infliction of material and moral damages on the plaintiff, represented in the loss of part of his money, physical injuries, disruption of his work, and the psychological suffering he endured.
The court estimated the compensation at five million dirhams as a total compensation and obliged the defendants to pay it jointly, based on the multiplicity of those responsible for the harmful act.
It also ruled for legal interest at a rate of 5% from the date the judgment becomes final until the payment is completed, considering that the assessment of compensation falls under its authority, and thus the interest is due from the date the judgment becomes final.
