Sponsor is blamed for Dh300,000 hotel bill

ABU DHABI // A fitness instructor jailed for forging documents that allegedly let her stay in a hotel for months without paying, told a court this week that her Arabic skills were not good enough for her to have committed the crime.

JB, from Spain, built up a bill of Dh300,000 at the hotel after presenting bogus documents from the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare to back up her claim that the Hamdan Street gym she was working for would be paying for her.

She told the Appeals Court that her Omani sponsor, AA, must have forged the documents and that the hotel should have spotted that they were bogus.

She said that AA had made inappropriate advances towards her before the complaint was filed against her

"He would tell me: 'I want to visit you', but I refused. Then the complaint was filed."

When the judge asked what her link was to the youth and sports authority, she said she had not heard of it before she was arrested.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced her to three months in prison and fined her Dh1,000. The Appeal Court adjourned the case to April 12 so that her sponsor could testify.

hdajani@thenational.ae