Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

She hasn't been named? I'm suspicious there is a racial aspect here but I might be wrong

Also, I'm highlighting the difficulties in establishing the facts on this so even if the poor lad had researched his parents' holiday destination he may have still have been unwittingly caught out.

I have a lot of sympathy for this young man and his family.
British people need to understand that other countries aren't just England but hotter, there are different laws and customs that have to be abided by.

I'm highlighting the ambiguous nature of how the law is applied there as people on this thread or reading this thread will need to have their wits about them.

You must admit don't hold hands on Foreign Office advice page is very, very strict they don't say anything about it being ok in certain contexts so confusing.

I feel so sorry for this young man.
The parents of the girl involved weee malicious in reporting a consenting and age appropriate sexual act, as they left or had left the country.
I would never go that or nearby countries. Their double standards and hypocrisy are a danger to western tourists.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I agree but it will also have the effect of really turning people away from visiting there. The bad PR this has generated for Dubai will undermine lot of their current glamorous and attractive tourist advertising, for sure.

Or maybe
Just keep well away!
There are other countries far more deserving of your holiday money !

Actually - the difference is how you are treated.

Of friends who went there to work, they say there are no policies in place with regard to harassement/sexual/human rights etc. Locals will always be treated with priority. If they hit your car, its your fault.

Those who are indian are considered secondary to white people. I have highly qualified asian friends who have to take lowly TA jobs because the arabs want to be taught by someone white. Friends in HR there say that the talent pool from abroad are those who cant get the roles in London which are highly competitive, so they often get people who arent really that good.

Finally - those who go over to do menial jobs like cleaning etc, are treated appallingly. I know of two who went over with hopes and dreams, only to have their passports taken and then raped and abused by their new employers.

I agree it is shocking but as a tourist you don't get away with breaking laws. I would never visit U.A.E or any other country that has appalling human rights and do not see why anyone thinks a holiday in Dubai is a great idea but their laws are what matters in that country no ours.

Very tough on him, but at least it’ll be a lesson to others, that if you want to visit the UAE, FGS take their laws seriously.

Have you read the story? That's not a similar example at all!!!

Look,if you go round in public touching your husband intimately and snogging his face off then go for it. If you do these things in Dubai you'll be in trouble it's no more complicated than that. For a country you've never been to and never will you seem mightily over invested.

😐

There's a Go FundMe for him, if anyone's interested.

@SavingTheBestTillLast yes this is actually a good point. Of course we don't know them though.

Having a giggle at kids of this age googling the legal age they can have sex. As if that would ever happen.

Teen A: We're alone, let's do this.
Teen B: Hang on a sec, "Hey Siri, am I old enough to have sex here?"

I mean really? You think a 40 year old visiting the UK having sex with someone under 16 is comparable to this!

Hearing this does make me think the mother is being malicious in reporting this.

I feel very sorry for him, but he broke the law.

If a 40 year old man came to the UK and had sex with a 12 year old girl on the basis that this was legal in his country, he would be prosecuted. And quite rightly so. Where do you draw the line?

I feel very sorry for him because I don't think he did anything morally wrong, only something criminally wrong. If your eighteen year old girl did something silly and drank in Dubai, I wouldn't feel ok if they were prosecuted for that, nor if they were raped and they were arrested when they tried to report it. I have no issues with saying I feel those laws are unfair and overly punitive, plus they are not applied equally to both men and women or indeed people from different ethnicities.

Exactly
Based on the biology of brain development she is more mature than him.

I'd love to know the mums motives for reporting him. Maybe she's ashamed of her daughter and she can punish the lad. Yes he broke the law, but I can't understand why the mum would want to report him.

According to the law in Dubai the girl was a minor. Below the age of consent.
FWIW I met in my work a family who wanted to marry off their daughter who was below the age of consent in the UK. She wanted to get married too! I had to tell colleagues in children's social care as they clearly thought they could continue to behave in the UK just as they did at home. When in Rome.
And if he's old enough to have sex he's old enough to think it through.

It’s just so so sad and I hope her parents have a truly horrible year too.
Shame on them

The fact that they both live in the uk where consent is 16 is what makes it worse. The mum went out of the way to ruin his life. Her daughter can carry on. Possibly a religious family which is why she reacted the way she did. But he looks so young and I wish more could have been done to stop this. If they had met in London this wouldn’t have happened.