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Pair on trial over threatening to kill manager and his sons

Complainant was trailed over phone, in vehicle for asking back money

A man and his brother-in-law allegedly threatened to kill a manager and his sons and continuously harassed him when the manager sought to get his dues worth more than Dh14,000, a court heard on Monday.

The 32-year-old Syrian commercial manager said he tried to enter into a partnership with Armenian A.K., 35, in running a car workshop providing car gas cylinders in Sharjah. He paid Dh14,210 worth of fees for the renewal of the licence which A.K. promised to wire him back but kept stalling. “It turned out that his claims were all lies. About four months later, when I was claiming back my money, A.K. told me to stop calling him again.”

A.K. then sent another person named I.B., also an Armenian, to the complainant to intimidate him. “I.B. told me that he was A.K.’s brother-in-law and ordered me to stop calling him,” the manager claimed in the investigation.

Around 3am one day before the complaint was lodged, the manager received a phone call and also a text message from I.B. in which he threatened he would make him kiss his shoes and send his body in the first available flight to Syria.

A.K. also called the complainant several times from a Russian number and claimed to him he was a member of the mob and could kill him. “He told me to stop calling him or he would kill me.”

The manager lodged a police complaint on September 8 last year as the two men took their threats to a higher level. “As I just came out from a centre in Abu Hail, I was surprised by two cars following me and swerving dangerously in my car’s direction for about 20 minutes.”

In the manager’s recall of what happened, he claimed that I.B. lowered his window and threw a plastic bottle on his car.

“He told me to follow him to Al Muraqqabat police station if I needed anything. He also told me to pull over.” I.B. also sent the manager SMSes threatening to kill his sons.

The manager’s brother, an interior design assistant, confirmed during the prosecution investigation having heard the two defendants threatening his brother on the phone’s speaker.

The pair faced charges including making threats of committing a crime, abusing the telecommunication services to harass others and putting others’ lives at risk when their case was brought before the Court of First Instance.

mary@khaleejtimes.com