Marcus Fakana sentenced to a year in prison

[Zippedydodah]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles]]]]
I cannot believe that this lad is going to spend a year in prison- yes, I know that’s the law there, he should have known better etc, etc
I hope that the girl’s mother is ashamed of her actions.
I don’t want to think what the impact will be on Marcus 😥

What has Starmer got to do with it?

The campaign group, Detained in Dubai, has said Mr Fakana “feels abandoned by the British government and Keir Starmer”.

And yet those people sneering with glee at a teenager for not knowing the not always applied laws of a country he’s holidaying in seem to not know the difference between Hindu and Sikh 🤷‍♀️

"And meanwhile in the real world……"

Teenagers (and their parents) do not educate themselves about the laws of they country they are in /or ignore them and end up starting a 12 month sentence with a criminal record for statutory rape of a minor....

I would not be to sure, as without checking Goolge I very much doubt you know.

Actually Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism are like factions of Hinduism. They're factions that followed a leader who interpreted the messages of Dharma, Karma etc. which is a little different from what mainstream scriptures propagated.

Sikh gurus have Hindu names, Sikh festivals coincide with Hindus, Sikh leaders regularly revered Hindu Gods, for example, Mata Chandi is engraved on Guru Hargobind's sword,The Sikh battle flag had Maa Durga. Sikh gurus revered Vedas. 🤷‍♀️

If you want to change the subject please start a new thread, im sure you can elighten us even more.

I'm really hoping that the family have been tipped the wink that Marcus will be pardoned for Ramadan. Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, pardoned 691 prisoners last year, 971 the year before (according to my Google search).

The last news before he gave himself up was that his lawyers were waiting to see if the prosecution launched an appeal in hope of a longer sentence. That appears not to have happened, and yet Marcus hasn't launched his own appeal.

His lawyers may have advised him that an appeal has little chance of success because there is no argument that he's not guilty, but that if he plays the game, serves a couple of months of his sentence, and makes an apology, then Sheikh Mohammed might be moved to mercy.

Every time you wonder if democracy really is the best system, think of this case.

The amount of gleeful gloating on this thread that a young man has been 'locked up for a very long time' as a 'convicted sex criminal', as he supposedly 'deserves', is something I'm finding genuinely disturbing.

'convicted sex criminal'

This is literally the case here

not sure anyone is gloating. It's that many posters minimise the offence because the rules are different to the UK. As the person quoting David Lammy made clear you need to respect the laws of the country you are in.

Well Keir Starmer Nominated Indian-Origin Krish Raval for Peerage a devout Hindu, Krish is a long-standing member of the City Sikhs Advisory Board, the U.K.'s largest network of Sikhs.

Thing is why Kier and Co, don’t want to rock the boat with various political sides for many reasons including trying to calm UAE nerves after the riots this year and Rachael’s failing budget.

All you defenders of Marcus never see the bigger picture as to why the government will not back a convicted sexual criminal in Dubai, because your so intent on this being a racist issue against the parents of the girl.

Your all so wound up with being a victim and lashing out at others to see the wood for the trees.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uk-pm-keir-starmer-nominates-indian-origin-krish-raval-for-peerage-7296907

You can all try to pick faults with what I say but at the end of the day he is a convicted criminal and convicted of a sexual crime with a minor and will be locked up for a very long time. Now I shall go and make a coffee and enjoy my free day at home!

//

Crikey you are loving this aren't you? Determined to make him out to be a sexually predator or something.

I can imagine back in the day a hanging would have been the highlight of your week

I’m really surprised a site where mostly women are user are just blindly believing the family’s convenient narrative that it was a mean mum of the girl. Nothing to say about it initially being reported as rape?

Determined to make him out to be a sexually predator or something.

I dont need to make him out to be anything Dubai law has convicted and found him guilty of a sexual offence with a minor and he has been found guilty. I am just stating facts that are now clearly documented on his criminal record

I'm glad you are so hot on facts as this more than makes up for your staggering lack of compassion

I hope your kids never mess up ... I can see you falling over yourself to be the first to dob them in.

Is this the guy that Starmer has to kow-tow to get him a pardon?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p0976j3x/princess-latifa-the-dubai-ruler-s-daughter-who-vanished

"I'm glad you are so hot on facts as this more than makes up for your staggering lack of compassion
I hope your kids never mess up ... I can see you falling over yourself to be the first to dob them in."

Most likely they would do what markus' parents should have done. Informed themselves, then him, of the laws and norms of the country he was visiting.

There's hopefully a good chance he may be pardoned after serving some time on his sentence but he has been convicted of a crime which may affect his ability to visit other countries etc in the future...

Which was not proven, otherwise he'd be facing twenty years. The girl involved did not claim it was rape, did she?

And the hotel CCTV proved that the forced rape in the car park was a false allegation. Both Marcus and the girl confirmed it was consensual and the evidence showed that.

But in the scale of things isn't that irrelevant? 2 months or a year - the age discrepancy isn't significant - that is the point being made!

I’ve got something to say about it being reported as rape. I would say that the report was a wicked vindictive act perpetrated by a person who was clued up and cunning enough to get her own child to a place of safety first because she would have been equally culpable. The mendacious report has resulted in a disproportionate outcome for the 18 year old boy.

I’m curious about the persistent posters banging on about the law being broken. Are you in favour of the medieval laws in the country in question, which is corrupt and racist but masquerades as a civilised society in order to attract tourism revenue from westerners whose values it abhors? Or just incapable of nuanced thought?

I'm not sure what to make of Detained in Dubai and don't really understand their role in these cases - do they basically lead media campaigns on behalf of the detained?

Then why have numerous posters on this thread claimed that Marcus 'was only two months older than the girl' if that detail is unimportant? Also the claim that they are in the same school year. Similar emphasis by Radha Stirling from Detained in Dubai, who tweeted her version of the age difference (ONE MONTH) in capital letters at least once. It's clearly significant in terms of public sympathy and political pressure.

No, we understand that if people choose to holiday in such a place then it's imperative to be very careful about what you do or say. And to understand that it's laws, morals, culture, way of life will be different. If you don't get that. Don't go. I would not.

Walkden yes I get that and I'm sure many would also

I was referencing posters need to hammer home the law but not acknowledge that sometimes people fuck up. There wasn't a victim this was consensual sex between two young people months apart in age.

It's possible to agree he messed up and is paying a huge price and simultaneously feel empathy for him and his family. This poster almost seems gleeful.

It could do easily be my child, yours or theirs that fucks up.

"Are you in favour of the medieval laws in the country in question"

Since I am not a citizen in the country what I think is irrelevant. As a sovereign nation the citizens there are allowed to set their own laws based on their own cultural norms etc.

I might take them into account if I was visiting the country or if I was taking an 18 year old son with me.....

Where's the nuance in this was legal in the UK so should be legal there too...?

To be fair the UK also has it's fair share of corruption and has been known to break international law when it suits us...

I only know what I've read in the press - Radha Stirling is a human rights advocate.

"There wasn't a victim this was consensual sex between two young people months apart in age."

By statute, the girl was too young to consent....

Not every country has the same age of consent that the UK does. We would not be claiming there was no victim if a Cuban holidaymaker in the UK had sex with say a consenting 13 year old because that's above the age of consent in his home country.