Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

[Ohnonotmeagain]

This is the 18 year old lad who had a holiday romance with a 17 year old girl in Dubai. She was just short of 18.

her parents found out and reported him to the Dubai authorities before he returned home.

his poor parents aren’t well off and had to return home to work leaving him there.

he’s now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

aibu to think this poor boy should never have been brought before court.

Oil.

They have the money to do it. It's really that simple. Lots of countries can't afford to host world cups etc.

I know, so deflating, all about the money but the people in my family who are big football fans definitely won't be going now!

Am i missing something re: posters saying this is definitely a racially motivated report?

I can't seem to find any information on the race of the girls family.

Not that it would matter, black, white, she's clearly a vindictive cow. But I don't understand where the racist elements are?

I'm genuinely relieved for him that he only got a year. Hopefully they won't keep him locked up for the full term. Twenty years would have been disastrous.

For all saying "the spiteful mother waited to report until they got home", wasn't it said that she didn't actually know about this until they returned?

Anyway by Dubai standards 1 year sounds on the low side for sentencing, so maybe he should just be glad it wasn't worse

Typo

@BefuddledCrumble the organisation who've been representing Marcus - the name escapes me now - said the girl was from a south asian family
Not that I expect her race to have made much difference to the sentence ...

His parents will have learned the hard way that it's extremely unwise to take children too old to control and too young not to be reckless to places with draconian laws. He will have learned that reaching the age of 18 makes you a proper adult and that no one is going to be holding your hand any more, so do your due diligence. I feel sad for the family, its hard lessons.

Sorry I'm being lazy here ... but the age of consent thee is 17 right? And how old was he at the time it happened? And do we know their age difference and how far off age of consent at the time they both were?

Sorry age of consent 18 rather

would you deliberately report an 18 year old to the authorities in a country where sending him to prison could result in torture, rape, deliberate infection with HIV? Making sure to wait until your errant daughter was safely back in the UK?
That isn't justice, it is revenge.

I think MN has a huge issue with 18 year still in full time education and how they should be treated- technically adults but functionally often dependent children subject to parental rules worse I think if they attend school sixth forms rather than more adult environments.

Though reading on here London teens seem to get way more freedom than ones here routinely get and girl may have had very strict upbringing - so how worldly either was in extremely unclear.

I do agree I wouldn't take my teens male or female to Dubai or any gulf states - but not sure I'd look up every law and possible unexpected extreme outcomes when we do take them to other countries.

Laws do have cut off points - and these teens hit them - there was apparently some leeway that wasn't applied correctly though at same time 20 years was a possible outcome looking at BBC reports. It just seems an unfortunate situation all round.

Would you feel the same if he’d seduced your underage daughter!
The underage thing - at 17 nearly 18 under UK law the girl wasn't underaged in UK law but was in the country both teens were visiting with family and they didn't realise the difference or he didn't - though girls mother did.

I know rules differ over Europe but haven't checked as till now kids very unlikely to be interested in holiday romance as family holiday tend to be family time for us.

If this was a white boy / girl, the government would have stepped in.

😂OMG - would you listen to yourself. Are you the mum?

FWIW and I know I shouldn't feed the haters but what if <gasp> she seduced him??

Anyway, this type of comment is exactly what I mean in my PP so clearly that had no impact. But oh my, there are some sanctimonious nutters.

My sympathies are with this lad and his family. I also feel sorry for the girl, imagine growing up with such a spiteful, vindictive mother.

Agree. I’m surprised the family name hasn’t been leaked. Disgusting people.

How does where she found out about it, change the cruelty of her actions, in fact she was back in London doesn't that make it worse.

Well, yes. Which is why people should have some common sense and stay away. It's not obligatory to holiday in Dubai.

There’s rumours it’s a “cultural clash” shall we say.

They were Asian and supposedly didn’t want their daughter to be with a Black young man.

The funny thing is doing this has meant it’s more likely to get out in her community that she slept with a Black guy.

I agree.

David Lammy is a disgrace!

Oh here we go Bingo. 🙄

What on Earth are you going on about? No one has ever been arrested for drinking alcohol on an Emirates flight. The woman you're referring to was arrested at the airport after shouting and arguing with the immigration officer and filming the altercation. You never film or photograph any Emirati without their express permission,it's simply nor permitted. That's what got her arrested and she then concocted an absolute bullshit story that was shared on social media for guilible people to repeat as gospel. Regarding alcohol in Dubai,it's available in all tourist hotels apart from the odd 'dry' ones so that's very simple. Holding hands? I see it all the time in shopping malls etc and no one bothers. I've lived in the ME for more than a decade and have been to Dubai more times than I can count over the years. Don't believe everything you read.

I would never set foot in the place but you've totally missed my point

I know 🤦🏽‍♀️

Yep