Policeman who freed prisoner has jail term reduced by Dubai Appeal Court

DUBAI // A policeman who accepted a Dh5,000 bribe to help a prisoner escape from his cell had his jail term reduced by a third on appeal.

The 27-year-old, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, was sentenced to three years behind bars by Dubai Criminal Court after he was convicted of seeking and accepting a bribe and breaching the duties and responsibilities of his profession.

He helped an Emirati inmate to escape from a police station after accepting the cash in October 2015. The prisoner was being held on charges of using a forged official document.

The officer denied the charges in the criminal and appeal courts.

Prosecutors said that at nearly 5am, the officer unlocked the back door of the detention centre for the man and gave him his car to leave the Ports Police Station.

The prisoner, a 35-year-old businessman, was charged with offering a bribe and escaping detention. He did not appear in court.

“I questioned them both and they confessed and said that the agreement was that the detainee escaped for one day to meet his wife and children then return to custody,” a policeman said.

Appeal judges reduced the officer’s prison term to a year and cancelled a deportation order handed down by the criminal court. A Dh5,000 fine was upheld.

salamir@thenational.ae