Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

Malicious, exactly that @microcrocodile.

I heard from my friends who lived out there not sure how true but if you were emirati or white and got yourself into trouble you could pay backhanders to the police to get you out of trouble. I’ve only ever been there once and we all had a laugh. I didn’t like it though and was going partly to visit my friends who lived there with their families.

@Ohnonotmeagain women have been able to drive in the UAE way before 2018, you're getting confused with Saudi Arabia (and so are many websites when I googled this in surprise). Women have always had the right to drive there I think.

I lived there before 2018 and drove, as did my Emirati friends. And no, I didn't 'do it and not get caught'. I passed my driving test there!

Reading some of the websites insisting the UAE only gave women the right to drive in 2018 is a Black Mirror-like experience for me. There are so many that come up and they are all wrong! And will make me more wary of where I trust information from ...

In regard to this case I agree with you that the mother was extremely malicious. The most informative post on this whole thread is the PP who said when police are involved the law is very straightforward, there's no nuance.

Unfortunately your information is incomplete. State employers in education and health are obliged to seek criminal record information from any country a job applicant has spent more than 12 months in. And this is a recommended procedure for private employers who require an enhanced DBS check.

And he won't get a tourist visa for the USA if he is honest in his application, which is generally advisable.

In theory, Dubai requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. In practice, the conviction rate suggests the courts operate to a much lower standard of proof. There is no jury for a criminal case - the defendant's guilt or innocence is decided by the judge. Of course, it is quite possible that Fakana admitted the offence, in which case no evidence was required. There is absolutely no reason to believe there is more to this story than we are being told.

It won't affect DBS checks. They only cover criminal records held in the UK. As what he did was not an offence under UK law, he will not be required to declare the conviction to potential employers nor will he go on the sex offenders register.

It will, of course, have a lasting impact on his life and I don't want to minimise that, just pointing out that some of the effects suggested on this thread don't apply.

Yeah very true, a lot of people have no clue.

I had a friend of mine who went there in 2017 for a wedding. Her friend was British and the guy she was marrying was I think Palestinian and they’d chosen to have a destination wedding in Dubai so some of his family could attend more easily.

She was going to the wedding with her boyfriend and the week before she was going I had to tell her to read up on the laws around conduct for unmarried couples etc. and she was quite sceptical of what I was saying.

She genuinely seemed to have no idea. Nor did her boyfriend. Until she actually did listen to me and read up on things.

One of my ex colleagues who is Muslim went on holiday to Dubai as a single man and had a great time, probably sleeping around and clubbing and partying but definitely lots of alcohol and drug abuse but as he didn’t get caught he just had fun.

I’ve also known families who are British Asian who lived in Dubai and had a great time.

Re both of these it’s the same as with westerners, as long as you don’t get into trouble then you’re given a free pass. The Emirati/Westerners in Dubai told my ex colleague where he could go to have fun. He also looked Western.

Why the need to remove blame from the mother? There’s no suggestion that the daughter did this.

I know! She’s awful.

@Sceptical123 There’s no real suggestion her daughter hinted at being unwilling.

From what’s been reported online the mother saw flirtatious texts between the two of them reliving their sexual exploits, which would indicate she was aware her daughter was likely to have been a willing participant.

Personally I don’t think she believes her daughter didn’t give full and free enthusiastic consent and I don’t think she’s ever claimed that. I think she’s just massively upset and angry that it happened and wanted to punish them, as well as keep him away from her daughter.

I know many families who would have reacted badly too - and not because they think their daughter was pushed into it but because they’re horrified at the idea of their unmarried daughter a. Having sex and b. Having sex with someone from a particular background - in this case Black.

I think where she’s a bit different is she focused the punishment on the male teen involved and did in quite a public way,
whereas many similar families would have went harder on their own daughter, kept it to themselves and not went after the boy directly.

Many of the Asian girls I grew up with in my late teens/early 20s made sure they didn’t get caught with Black men. They said they couldn’t even imagine what would happen if they were caught. I’d ask them what exactly would happen and they would just say it’s not even a thing they can dwell on.

Because her daughter probably told her she wasn’t comfortable doing it (to shift blame) but it stopped short of rape. Or she told her mother he raped her but doesn’t want to go through the ordeal of medical examinations and court proceedings etc.

Much easier to report from a safe distance and watch his punishment play out in the press.

The girls mother in this case is thoroughly evil.
I don't know how she can look at herself in the mirror.

Anyone who's spent a decent amount of time in the UAE knows that a lot of people are out there doing the "illegal" stuff so that it seems acceptable. I remember even when they were a lot more strict e.g. with drinking and no sex before marriage, it all still went on. From gay meet ups to sex in hotel rooms etc.

You're lulled into a false sense of security as it seems like everything's accepted. in the 'Dubai bubble'. It's easy to forget that it can go very very wrong and burst at any moment if the wrong person reports you, usually an Emirati local. The Authorities don't really want things like this reporting to them as they have to do something about it and get bad publicity. They are happy for the Westeners to live their western life as long as it doesn't overlap with their lives.

I think it is a terrible case but Dubai is a police state with hideous laws so don't go there voluntarily. Especially do not take your children there. You will not be special, you will not be the exception; the Draconian laws will apply to you. I would feel differently if someone were there as a journalist or campaigner or as one of Dubai's many poor migrants workers, but if you go there for fun or to benefit from the luxury lifestyle then you need to accept the risks involved.

This boy is now in a living nightmare and I hope something can be done for him but these cases hit the headlines every few weeks and nobody ever seems to take the warning.

And most ridiculous non comparable scenario award of the day goes to ...

Jerry Lee Lewis didn't do very well on tour once the British Press found out the age of his wife in 1956.

I didn't think the police would come between an Iraqi man and his wife. Does this mean that married couples can't travel to places where the age of consent is higher than their ages?
The Dutch volleyball player was a bit different, he travelled to the UK to have sex with a British 12 year old. The age of consent in the Netherlands is also 16.

Still convinced not seeing full story:
we are told -
mum sees daughters phone with messages and photos and reports the crime. Man gets arrested.

Wonder about those message/photos. Are they G-rated and yield no evidence to the crime that was committed.
or
Were the messages / photos explicit and based on metadata show that crime was committed in Dubai. Leading to parent getting police involved and leading to a clear cause for Dubai arrest.

Had anyone considered that young woman might have vulnerabilities that young man not aware of? Or, Might his messages, photos reveal a different situation ? We are only hearing his views … which are all self serving.

I am not sure that anything would happen to the Iraqi man if he was having sex with his nine year old Iraqi wife in the UK. Because he would need to be married to her in order to legally have sex with her.
Distasteful as it might be to us, I don't think he would go to prison in the UK for this.