Khaberni - A man of Arab nationality deliberately damaged, vandalized, and stole various items (including doors, air conditioners, and palm trees) from a huge farm that his father had transferred to his sister through inheritance, and he was criminally convicted and sentenced to imprisonment with a final verdict, after which his sister resorted to civil court seeking compensation.
The primary civil court in Dubai ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff 968,000 dirhams, the value of the property he stole and damaged, and moral compensation for the moral damage she suffered as a result of his actions, including legal interest.
The details of the case go back to a lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, where she stated that she owns a farm covering about 42,000 square meters, which she inherited from her father after it was previously held by her brother before the ownership legally transferred to her.
According to the case records, the accused brother committed acts that involved the theft of several items from inside the farm, including nine aluminum doors, 26 air conditioners, and 20 palm trees (valued at about 178,000 dirhams), and he intentionally damaged the water irrigation channels for the palms and destroyed another 140 palms, valued at 770,000 dirhams.
Following these events, the owner of the farm reported the matter to the authorities, and the police referred the incident to the public prosecutor's office in Dubai, which then handled the criminal investigation, ending with the conviction of the defendant and sentencing him to one month in prison, and fining him for the value of the stolen items, before this judgment was upheld on appeal and the challenge against it was rejected by the Court of Cassation.
After the criminal judgment became final and irreversible, the plaintiff filed her civil lawsuit, claiming compensation for the material damages and the moral damages, relying on the conclusive evidence of the criminal judgment which settled the issue of the occurrence of the crime and its attribution to its perpetrator.
The court explained in its ruling that final criminal judgments are conclusive in civil litigation concerning the proof of the act constituting the crime and its attribution to the perpetrator, and these issues cannot be revisited, which confirms the fault on the part of the defendant conclusively.
The court further added that tort liability is based on three elements: fault, damage, and causation, all of which are present in this incident, given the proven acts of theft and damage by the defendant and the direct financial damages incurred by the plaintiff.
Regarding material compensation, the court confirmed that the damage consisted of the loss of the value of the stolen items and the damage to the plants and irrigation facilities, all proven by the criminal judgment, leading to the order to the defendant to pay 948,000 dirhams as compensation for the damages.
Regarding moral compensation, the court noted that the harmful act caused the plaintiff moral damages, exemplified by her feelings of sadness and regret due to her brother's violation of her ownership of the farm, and theft and damage of its contents inherited from their father, which psychologically harmed her, especially since the defendant was the trustee of that farm since their father had entrusted it to him, in addition to the plaintiff bearing the burden of complaint to claim the value of the stolen and damaged properties, thus establishing the causation.
The court ordered the defendant to compensate for the moral damages with an amount of 20,000 dirhams.
The court also ordered legal interest at the rate of 5% from the date the judgment became final until full payment, along with ordering the defendant to pay court fees, expenses, and attorney's fees.
