DUBAI // A second man has been sentenced to six months in prison for his role in drugging a schoolboy then taking pictures while molesting him.
R K, 21, was sentenced by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance to six months in prison. The same sentence was handed to his co-conspirator, M A, a 26-year-old Iranian, in September last year.
R K, who has no identification papers, had initially evaded arrest and was only presented to the court in November.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Hassan Abdul Rahim, who investigated the case, had asked the court to hand down the toughest punishment applicable: the death penalty.
The 16-year-old schoolboy, who regularly visited M A's home to play video games, told investigators he had no idea he had been molested until a friend told him police had called in the host M A, a 26-year-old Iranian, for questioning.
"My friend told me that M A and R K were being interrogated by police for molesting me. I was surprised," the boy told the court.
The boy's friend, who was there on the day of the incident, told police he left at around 3am. At some point after he left, police said, M A and his friend R K, a 21-year-old Bidoon, laced his juice with sedatives.
When the boy fell asleep, M A and R K undressed him and took photographs of each other molesting him.
"When I was presented before police I heard M A confessing to buying sedative pills and mixing them with my juice before it was served to me. Then he abused me and they also took photos of what happened," he said.
M A and R K, who confessed their crime to police, took photos of the abuse with a mobile phone camera. The photographic evidence was presented to court.