Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this mother should be ashamed of herself

726 replies

2boyzNosleep · 11/12/2024 19:57

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2zq1yl0ko

17yr old girl & 18 yr old boy hook up on holiday in Dubai. I believe they may have met over there. The girls mother finds messages on the girls phone when they return to the UK. The mother reports the guy to Dubai police. He gets arrested as sex with anyone under 18yrs is illegal in Dubai. He has now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

I haven't looked into it much, as far as I can tell it was consensual, a charity called Detained in Dubai have been trying to help (legally I think).

Am I alone in thinking how bloody spiteful the mother is?!? The girl is 17 years old and I think in another report saw that she turned 18 shortly after returning.

Marcus Fakana in school uniform

Marcus Fakana: Briton, 18, sentenced over Dubai sex with girl, 17

Marcus Fakana has been sentenced for a year over the relationship, a campaign group in Dubai says.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2zq1yl0ko

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Nightjar33 · 11/12/2024 23:03

Wouldn’t want to holiday there!

MrsSkylerWhite · 11/12/2024 23:03

UndeniablyGenX · Today 20:10
**
Out of interest, would people's responses be the same if this had happened in the UK and he was 16, she was 15?

But it didn’t and they weren’t,

WarmingClothesontheRadiator · 11/12/2024 23:05

So is he a kid who can’t be held responsible for his actions, or an adult old enough to make his own decisions to have sex?

SoupDragon · 11/12/2024 23:05

I hope the girl manages to get away from her mother.

Manxexile · 11/12/2024 23:05

unsync · 11/12/2024 20:53

No, in the law of that land, she is under the age of consent and is the victim of a sexual crime. You cannot look at this through a UK lens. It is well known that there are some draconian laws and severe punishments over there. We know nothing of the mother's motivation for reporting either. If you don't wish to comply with the laws in other countries, stay in the UK. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

And this^ is why the boy's parents are at fault.

"Let's take a holiday in a strict Muslim country where the laws are incredibly harsh and draconian and let's take our teenage son too..."

SuperfluousHen · 11/12/2024 23:07

WarmingClothesontheRadiator · 11/12/2024 23:05

So is he a kid who can’t be held responsible for his actions, or an adult old enough to make his own decisions to have sex?

At last, someone asks the right questions.

Sceptical123 · 11/12/2024 23:09

He broke the law 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s a shit situation for him and his family but I’m sure all
the drug traffickers that were sentenced to decades in prison or death felt it was unfair too that the countries whose laws they were breaking had such ridiculously un-western penalties. But they do. And they implement them. Unfortunately, saying “But I’m British/ American/ Canadian”, whatever, just shows your arrogance and ignorance. You may not agree with them but you’re an imbecile if you think they don’t apply to you just bc your own country has different laws.

mnreader · 11/12/2024 23:09

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

mnreader · 11/12/2024 23:13

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Nightjar33 · 11/12/2024 23:16

I don’t think young people think about the outcome of the situation, they’re caught up in the moment, we’ve all been there.
Right or wrong totally different situation for 16 and 15 year old in this country.

Rainbowdrop22 · 11/12/2024 23:19

I think the woman is a vindictive cow and I feel desperately sad for this boy.

it highlights how important it is to know something about the laws of countries we are visiting. Just because Dubai is all bling and influencers, it clouds people’s perception of the place. It’s still a Muslim country with some strict laws. It’s not bad for teenage boys/girls reading about it to get a heads up. Or their parents for that matter.

MrsFinkelstein · 11/12/2024 23:20

UndeniablyGenX · 11/12/2024 20:10

Out of interest, would people's responses be the same if this had happened in the UK and he was 16, she was 15?

Sexual Health Nurse here - common occurrence, and barring concerns about capacity/exploitation in either party - no one bats an eyelid.

Manxexile · 11/12/2024 23:24

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Are you suggesting that non-UK citizens in the UK should be able to break UK law with impunity so long as they were "unaware" of it?

There's a good reason why ignorance of the law is no defence in the UK and most other jurisdictions. Otherwise there would be a breakdown of society and civility.

MrsSkylerWhite · 11/12/2024 23:27

WarmingClothesontheRadiator · Today 23:05
**
So is he a kid who can’t be held responsible for his actions, or an adult old enough to make his own decisions to have sex

He is barely an adult who had consensual sex with a young woman just shy of her 18th birthday.

Being 18 is all about making daft decisions and sometimes mistakes . Most of us don’t end up in jail because of them.

Isittimeformynapyet · 11/12/2024 23:33

Ilovelifeverymuch · 11/12/2024 20:51

Yes but in Dubai the legal age of consent is 18 and she was 17 and they are strict about it in Dubai so yes he broke the law. Wether the mother should have reported it to the Dubai police is another debate.

This debate is "Was the mother a bitch for reporting the boy?" not whether he broke the law or not.

FrangipaniBlue · 11/12/2024 23:34

UndeniablyGenX · 11/12/2024 20:10

Out of interest, would people's responses be the same if this had happened in the UK and he was 16, she was 15?

I sat on jury service on such a case.

Exact same scenario, girls mother was a vindictive bitch. Was happy to let him sleep over at her house for the year they were a couple but things turned nasty when they broke up.

As the mother of a teenage boy trust me when I say how truly awful it was to watch a young man's life potentially being ruined before my eyes, all because of a spiteful mother.

WarmingClothesontheRadiator · 11/12/2024 23:34

MrsSkylerWhite · 11/12/2024 23:27

WarmingClothesontheRadiator · Today 23:05
**
So is he a kid who can’t be held responsible for his actions, or an adult old enough to make his own decisions to have sex

He is barely an adult who had consensual sex with a young woman just shy of her 18th birthday.

Being 18 is all about making daft decisions and sometimes mistakes . Most of us don’t end up in jail because of them.

If you are saying an 18 year old cannot be held responsible then still less can a 17 year old and therefore Dubai’s age of consent must be reasonable since if you cannot be held responsible you have no capacity to consent? I presume then you only object to the degree of punishment?

Feelingathomenow · 11/12/2024 23:35

I can see your point about how certain ethnic groups view black men - I spent over 20 years living in Birmingham so aware of that dynamic, the echoes of the race riots still linger on.. So yes I can see how you think it would have raised alarm bells with the boys parents -but maybe they hadn’t ever come across that dynamic before.

JudgeJ · 11/12/2024 23:37

Fififafa · 11/12/2024 20:11

Considering they are both British citizens or at least both live here, plus the fact that an 18yr old had consensual sex with a 17yr old, would be perfectly legal thing to do here. For the girl’s mother to then get the boy in trouble with the authorities in Dubai just smacks of vindictiveness and dare I say possibly a tinge of racism.

I hope that all the boys in the girl's circle of friends are aware of what her vindictive mother has done and keep well clear of her, this could come back to bite her daughter. Her name hasn't been made public but I'm sure that it is out there in cyber space.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 11/12/2024 23:39

UndeniablyGenX · 11/12/2024 20:10

Out of interest, would people's responses be the same if this had happened in the UK and he was 16, she was 15?

No because that’s not an offence.

aliceinawonderland · 11/12/2024 23:41

PandoraSox · 11/12/2024 22:48

He was 41 at the time, not just a few months older than 17.

yes but people used the term paedophile because in the US she was still classed as a chid
Semantics I know, but the logic is the same.

AngeloMysterioso · 11/12/2024 23:41

SuperfluousHen · 11/12/2024 23:07

At last, someone asks the right questions.

Oh, stop it. We’re talking about a couple of sixth formers for fuck’s sake.

I think we can all agree that most 18 year-olds (particularly the male ones), whilst legally having reached adulthood, still have a lot of growing up to do in terms of maturity and knowing how the wider world works and do not necessarily have the perspicacity and foresight to think “hey, this girl I really fancy wants to have sex with me, I better get on google first and make sure it’s not illegal in the country we’re currently in in case her racist mum finds out and decides to report me to the police”.

More likely, if this 18 year old male was like the 18 year old males I was shagging when I was 17, he was just thinking “Yay! Sex! Let’s get it on!”

femfemlicious · 11/12/2024 23:41

coxesorangepippin · 11/12/2024 20:15

Totally agree.

It's because he's black.

Everything is because he's black.

Exactly what I was thinking!

LBFseBrom · 11/12/2024 23:42

You are not being at all unreasonable, to sentence this guy is monstrous. Hopefully he'll be let out but how scared he must be right now, poor lad.

Nightjar33 · 11/12/2024 23:42

Must admit I choose not to visit countries with certain beliefs and cultures, I’d rather visit countries that I understand and agree with their cultures. My choice.
I’m not sure I’d have had the same attitude at 16 or 17 !