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.

There is some real empathy on this thread isn't there?! My goodness.

The poor lad is a child, have you never done anything inadvisable as a teen?

And for those of you braying about how it's the law - did you look up the laws of the country when you went on holidays as a young person? Of course you didn't. Why would you, he would have trusted it was safe, he was with his parents.

If anyone is to blame they are for not properly researching the destination and telling him what's what.

Really sad situation, I'm relived he's"only" got a year but that could be life changing. God only knows what prisons are like there. I hope somehow he can be released to UK custody.

This is the why I would never visit Dubai, they seem to delight in throwing people in prison, I even know someone who was living the capitalist dream out there for years and ended up in jail due to a dodgy business partner. Meanwhile the country runs on exploiting migrant labour.

I hope that girls mother is satisfied with herself now.

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far too often, people brush off the draconian local laws of tourist destinations by saying those laws don’t really apply to tourists. Authorities may tend to look away, but that doesn’t mean tourists are actually exempt from the law.

It's Dubai. Of course people know that they have a whole raft of different laws and punitive punishments. They probably don't think that the parents of your summer romance are going to tell on you, but there you go. Don't go to Dubai seems the easy answer to this shit.

I absolutely agree you should follow the laws of the country you're visiting. I think the waters are a bit muddied for Dubai though as lots of the laws/rules are relaxed while you're in a hotel - drinking, PDA, clothing etc. It's not crazy to think a young English man of 18 would dream having consensual sex with a 17yo in a hotel could wind him up in prison. Lots of the comments on this thread are going to be from older, well travelled individuals with parental responsibility who have an understanding of cultural and legal differences between countries.

Ignorance isn't an excuse but I have total sympathy for him.

@TiramisuThief he is not a child, where did you read that?

He’s not the only person who broke the law. He was also underage so she broke the law just as much. Her mother waited until being in the U.K. before she reported it. If they’d still been in Dubai her daughter would also be in prison for a year 🤷‍♀️

The age of consent in Dubai is 18. He broke the law.

The age of consent is 18 in lots of countries. It's 17 in Ireland too, although there are some countries with a lower age of consent than Britain's 16.

Imagine if some foreign teenager had sex with a British child of 15. Do you really think the British authorities, let alone the Press, would just let them off?

That depends how old the "foreign teenager" was. If they were as close in age as this pair and the "15 year old" was a month or two short of 16 then yes they would just let them off.

I do think if a 16yo had sex with a 15yo while on holiday in England, they wouldn't be prosecuted or vilified. I don't think it would be news worthy. That's here though, it's not comparable.

I feel sorry for him. He broke the law, but his punishment seems completely disproportionate. I wouldn't go to Dubai if you paid me.

But to the poster saying he's in the same boat as if he were in the US where they have the same age of consent (not everywhere, actually, it varies state to state) do you really think 18YO men are routinely imprisoned in the USA - for a year - for having sex with their almost 18YO girlfriends?
They're not.

It's incredibly depressing that some posters (although they may be simply wind up merchants) think that this is in any way fair or acceptable.

Habibi, do NOT go to Dubai!

The level of spite this mother has is unfathomable.

He broke the law and has been prosecuted, how hard can it be to understand.

Nothing whatsoever to do with depressing or winding people up. What makes you think because he is from the UK he is above the law in that country?

Some people in this country really are wet behind the ears.

Absolutely, never understand why friends go on business and I discouraged my DH from going.

He won't be released to UK custody.

If he had managed to somehow get back to the UK before sentencing, he would not be liable for extradition because his lawyers would argue that an extradition request would fail the "dual criminality" test i.e. that his behaviour would not be categorised as a criminal offence in the UK.

The girl's mother, who made the complaint, was incredibly vindictive to do so.

Thanks Robocop.

Yes he broke the law of the country but the mother of the girl was dreadful for reporting him to the local police.

The equivalent situation would be a 16 year old tourist having consensual sex with a 15 year old tourist. You're living on another planet if you think the authorities here would be remotely interested in that scenario.

I hope the mother who reported this poor boy is feeling pleased with herself.

If it wasn't for the manner by which the Dubai police were informed of the incident, this would be being reported and discussed quite differently.

On the one hand he broke the law of the country he was in, on the other you do wonder about the motivations for girl's mother reporting knowing the consequences. There's been no suggestion in the reporting that the girl involved regretted the holiday relationship.

Imagine if some foreign teenager had sex with a British child of 15. Do you really think the British authorities, let alone the Press, would just let them off?

The girl is from London. It's more like a 15 year old and 16 year old from a country where the age of consent is 15 coming to Britain for a holiday and having sex.

It's not the same principle.

Because in Dubai it is an offence for her too.

Look at all the posts saying how you need to find out and respect the laws of the country that you are in? Well the laws of Dubai make it an offence for her, and so what happens in UK is irrelevant

What is a shame here, as BBC is reporting, is that there was some scope for this to have been prosecuted as a misdemeanour, but that did not happen.

And the mother who reported him is an utter bitch. If she was so concerned about this couple, who had both broken the law, then dob in both or neither.

I feel very sorry for him. What 18 year old going on holiday with their parents thoroughly researches the laws of the country they are visiting? None!

Especially agree with PP that a lot of laws in Dubai are relaxed for tourists, e.g. alcohol, so it's really not as clear cut as some people are making out.

The girl's mother is just awful and I hope the girl manages to get away from her influence and control ASAP. Also hope our diplomats can sort out an early release for him. How terrified must he be, and with his parents not even there to support him 😢

He broke the law.

should foreign tourists who break the law when visiting the UK get away with it?