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 😥

Unfortunately, yes. All over social media.

There seems to be an assumption, including among some on this thread, that the complainant is white. If the complainant and her daughter are indeed who have been identified on SM, they are not white.

The boy has apparently turned himself into jail now rather than appeal. Best decision, get it over with rather than hang round on bail trapped in the country away from his family, filing appeals or waiting for a pardon that likely won't come.

They’ve been identified on X (Twitter) - they’re a British Indian family

Poor girl. Not only has her new relationship been broken up in the most awful way and she has to live with a horrible mother who will probably make her life hell going forward (and I wouldn't be surprised if she is sent abroad for a forced marriage after this) but you'd put her in prison too.

How would that help matters?

Hopefully, this case will put some people off going to this horrendous country for a holiday. It has some barbaric laws and is an extremely misogynistic and racist country.

No, the girl was 17 at the time of the offence, hence she is the victim. He is the offender (under Dubai law) as he was 18.

Why on earth would you want the girl to serve jail time as well? Isn't ONE victim enough?

@PinkiOcelot I think the Daughter has been punished enough - imagine the guilt she will feel over this, plus if she has been identified then people will not be kind.

I just heard this case discussed on R4, the mother is very religious, she’s a vindictive cow who hasn't taken into consideration the implications for her Dd. I suspect her poor DD will be outed at some point.

Rape has a legal definition. if one person lacks capacity to consent to sex then surely it’s rape? I think it’s sometimes called statutory rape in the U.S. which is helpful to show the difference between non- consensual sex and consensual sex without capacity.

She waited until she was back in the UK to report him. Her daughter would also have been charged if she had reported it whilst they were still in Dubai.

I thought she checked her Daughter's phone when they were back in the UK which is when she found out about it?

Well, it's the risk of travelling to a country with medieval laws.

But she would not have been charged. She was a minor, he wasn't. That's the crime. It's not having sex outside marriage, it's sex with a minor.
I actually despair that people don't understand this.

Not in England it's not: it's "sexual activity with a child aged under 16".

Unless it's without the 15 year old's consent of course.

And,don't they have,Romeo and,Juliet laws,in some,states,?

Why would the victim (as Dubai see it) have been charged? 😐

There is no Romeo and Juliet law in the UAE where culturally it is against their Islamic laws to have sex outside of marriage at all.

Laws have changed for tourists relatively recently, but up until 2020 it was illegal to have sex outside of marriage at all in Dubai- of course plenty did it and the authorities largely turned a blind eye unless it is reported to them when they have to act.

I think this sort of thing creeps in from the U.S. tv shows it’d be statutory rape in some states where age of consent is 18. Although some of those states (not all) have “Romeo and Juliet” laws when the young lovers are close in age.

Although most of my knowledge of the American legal system comes from law and order so that may be complet made up.

What on earth was the mother thinking than now the whole world knows,her daughters,name.

I worked over there and a colleague in her early twenties was jailed for being in a gents flat when the police had raided it and found cannabis even though her drug test came back negative!

A country where money talks and a lot gets hushed up. Prostitution is also rife but this poor man gets jailed for this. I think a race element will be at play here , I witnessed some awful racism from locals especially towards black people.

So what relevance does that have to the facts of the case? He went to a country knowing the law and deliberatly broke their laws and traditions. He was caught and is facing the justice of the land.

Who reported it and their intentions are irrelivant, an adult man of 18 years of age cannot willfully decide which sexual laws he chooses to follow, especially in a strict country as Dubai.

You can argue she was only just under age all you want but that is not what the law allows, he was a guest in their country.

I read about this case a few weeks ago, cannot believe he's now been sentenced to prison

When I first read about it I thought he'd been caught by police in the act/moments after...the mum waited until she was safely back in the UK before making her allegations

Read an article saying that the girl is now 18 years old (although 17 at the time a few months ago)

Total madness in my opinion

The mother is a real piece of shit in my opinion...poor daughter

...but obviously feel the most amount for this teenage boy

I think it's disgusting that countries like Dubai are marketed this way. We wouldn't allow North Korea to be marketed as a luxury tourist destination. It makes me really angry. I know lots of countries are bad but the UAE is literally running on oppression and modern slavery.

Needless to say, Dubai is on my list of countries never to visit!

Agree that the mother is a total piece of shite over this.

Poor lad!

Evil bitch of a mother. I hope her DD can break free from her over-bearing control as soon as possible and have nothing more to do with her.