• Home
• /
• Crime

Postman held for sending inappropriate videos to man instead of lover

He has been charged with attempted threat and blackmail online and breach of others' privacy.

A postman, who allegedly tried to threaten and blackmail a woman he had an affair with but mistakenly sent his messages to a man, has landed in a Dubai court.  
The Court of First Instance heard the 34-year-old Egyptian man sent inappropriate photos and video clips of the woman by mistake to the Yemeni complainant's number on WhatsApp. 
He has been charged with attempted threat and blackmail online and breach of others' privacy. The case unfolded between December 12 and 27, 2016.
The 27-year-old Yemeni man, who reported the defendant to the police, said the accused sent the messages on WhatsApp in December 2016, thinking he was a woman he knew. "He was upset because some woman had blocked him. He said he had very important private photos and videos of the woman and her children and that he would post them online."
The complainant tried to lure the defendant into revealing his intentions. "I asked him whether he wanted money but he claimed he just wanted to upload the material online. He then sent three photos and three video clips of a woman in which she was naked or dancing," the complainant told the prosecutor.
"I informed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers, but he got suspicious and did not show up to a meeting I had set up with him."
A policeman said: "The accused came to the CID after we called him. He admitted he had sent the porn material to the complainant thinking he was the woman he used to meet."
The accused told the police he had met a woman about four months earlier and had consensual sex with her in his flat in Abu Dhabi. He claimed he sent the video clips and photos because he wanted to break up with her and get married.
A report from the general directorate of criminal evidence and criminology showed the defendant had conversations with the complainant, during which he sent three video clips, including two inappropriate ones, in addition to four photos.
During interrogation, the accused confessed he had met an Omani woman and had sex with her. She then broke up with him. He sent messages to a number, thinking it was hers. After discovering that the number belonged to a man, he got worried he would be reported to the police. He claimed he was a friend of the woman's boyfriend who had left the country, and requested the recipient of his messages to end the matter.
The conversation between the two men and the clips and photos sent by the accused were used by the public prosecution as evidence.
The trial will continue on May 9. 
mary@khaleejtimes.com