To think this mother should be ashamed of herself

[2boyzNosleep]

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.

Under Dubai law, no. This was a British girl living in Britain. Just because she was on holiday when it happened doesn't change the fact that the girl knew exactly what she was doing.

We all know that but the only reason it came to light was the vindictive mother reporting it. Without her spiteful actions, nothing would have happened.

Doesn't it also reflect well on any country that cares about under eighteen year olds who have potentially been a victim of non-consensual sex?

Ah, fine
So she can go to the US and drive at 60mph on the highway then?
She's a British Girl, living in Britain, after all
Or to Germany and deny the holocaust happened?
It's not a crime in Britain, after all

Do you not comprehend that

a) "knew exactly what she was doing?" is very unlikely. If she knew the possible consequences she wouldn't have done it
Although this might be a stupid girl - from one report her mum found her Morning After Pill packaging, so she wasn't bright enough to use a condom

b) Being British does not mean you take British law with you, with a few notable exceptions (the main one, ironically, being travelling abroad to have sex with minors)

She was a couple of months younger for goodness sake. I would think anyone who invented that it was non consensual when there is no reason to think that was a disgrace and probably racist too tbh

Without someone speaking up, many crimes go unreported and unpunished
Doesn't mean they should

The law says it's non-consensual
Whether or not we think it's a bad law, it applies to everyone, so is not racist

100% there’s racist overtones to this vindictive woman reporting him.

I bet had his skin been a different shade, she wouldn’t have done this

British exceptionalism is alive and well here on mumsnet. When you go to a foreign country, you need to obey THEIR laws. The British Empire has crumbled. If you don't agree with their laws, don't go there. Simples.
Except that many other countries have shown concern for their own citizens who've become victims of extreme laws abroad and tried to get them freed, so you bitterly wanging on about the British Empire doesn't work. It's not unique to Britain. Remember the Irish Peru drug smugglers? They got released pretty quickly. Drug smuggling is a lot worse than what Marcus did.

Yes, and the people inventing that it must have been non consensual are not much better.

@snowmichael we just have to accept that irrespective of the actual word of the law most people would expect some common sense in its application. This is what happens in most developed countries. In the west most people think that absolute application of laws in situations where common sense should prevail has no place in the modern world. Expecting the average person to think about these things when booking their TUI holiday in naivety. Being aggressive to anyone who thinks differently to you, calling them idiots is stupidity.

Most people here are discussing morals, the morals (or lack thereof) of a mother living in the UK purposely exploiting another country’s laws basically because she’s some overprotective mother who doesn’t like the fact her daughter consensually had sex.

You are coming across as antagonistic and threatening. If you are trying to make a point you might want to reconsider your tone. As it is most people are ignoring you because of the way you are behaving and speaking to them? Are you lacking self awareness in how it’s coming across? Or do you have a reason behind your tone. Because no one can hear what you’re saying. Do you have some skin in the game here?

You don’t appear to be partaking in the same conversation as everyone else. It’s called reading the room. There’s nothing wrong with having different views but sometimes it’s necessary to consider how they are presented if you want people to hear you.

Just a word to the wise.

More fool all of them for going there. Dubai is a shithole.

Yeah, you couldn't pay me to go there. No idea why some people rave about it. Concrete jungle in the middle of the desert, with an awful track record for human rights - particularly womens rights.

Oh grow up.
You'd say the same if it was a gay couple who were going to be imprisoned if that was against the law? Better get them reported so they can face punishment?

And this is the point. It’s not really a suitable country for people with Western values to travel to. Plus it just looks awful and fake.

Thank you

I recall a situation where a Scottish 15 year old became pregnant to a boy a few months older than her. He handed himself into the local police. They told him to go home.

They're now married.

I really don’t know what is so hard to understand. No one is saying British laws should apply in Dubai. You would have to be severely lacking in comprehension skills to read that in anyone’s comments. In case anyone is struggling to understand the basics:

1. The only reason that Marcus is in prison is because of a vindictive (and possibly racist) woman using another country’s laws to cause a lot of pain to a person a couple of months older than her own child, when the two people have engaged in consensual sex. People are pointing out that the mother did not need to do this, she would not have been able to do this in this country, even if the people in question were 16 and 15.
2. Morals, it is clear that the woman had questionable motives in destroying a persons life, posters are saying there is a high likely hood that she had racist motives. It is clear that this woman living in Britain doesn’t have morals that align generally with British culture. The way that the British legal system works reflects these British values and would not seek to criminalise anyone in a comparable situation in the UK. British People have every right to call out a person living in Britain acting against the cultural moral and ethical values of Britain.
3. People are wondering why anyone would go to Dubai. They are questioning how and why it is being sold as a desirable holiday location for Westerners when its laws and underlying morals seem draconian when compared to the West. We see so many of these cases time after time. It is clearly a flash point. Something has to give, either less interest in the area by westerners or increased leniency towards westerners.

One has to draw a line somewhere, though.

Thank you

Reread my comment. I started IF he was they have both been underage - so both having underage sex

So you think you should only obey laws that you like?

"developed countries"

"In the west"

Those don't apply here
Dubai is a kleptocratic Middle Eastern theocracy
If people think they can ignore their laws because they are not in keeping with the western liberal social democracies they are used to ... well, that is stupidity

I haven't threatened anyone, don't know what you're basing that statement on
I agree I am antagonistic to people who think they can ignore the laws of foreign countries while there

I find it slightly droll that you are saying most are ignoring me, while another complains that I am responding to ten or a dozen questions and comments a day

You say there's nothing wrong with having different views, but if one of those different views is "I'm British, this is a stupid law in the 21st century and won't apply to me" or even "We won't get caught" ... well, as this whole saga proves, yes, there is something wrong with those viewpoints

I wouldn’t obey laws that were immoral. I also wouldn’t grass someone who had done something that harmed no one. You’re talking as if laws should be blindly obeyed just because they’re laws.

"The only reason that Marcus is in prison is" ...
... because he committed a crime
If he hadn't, no matter how spiteful or vindictive or even racist the mother was, she could have done nothing about it (beyond grounding her daughter for life)