DUBAI // A man who raped a 9-year-old boy and threatened to chop off his head has been sentenced to seven months in prison.
The Criminal Court sentenced SA, 36, a driver from Afghanistan, to six months for the sexual assault and a further month for assaulting the boy’s father.
The boy was at his father’s cafeteria on March 15 this year when the Afghan, who knew his father, asked him to go to the Fruits and Vegetables market with him.
“He then took me to a deserted area near the Dragon Mart and forcefully pulled my trousers down after I refused to do so,” recalled the boy. The man then raped him, but the boy managed to run away when the man’s phone rang.
“He chased me and when I fell and hurt my knee, he caught me and shoved me in his car where he sprayed red food colouring on my trousers to cover the blood stains.
“He threatened to cut my head off if I told anyone about the attack,” said the boy.
His mother ZJ, 28, recalled her son acting strangely when he returned to the cafeteria.
“I took a nap but when my son returned, he woke me up, and hugged me so tight which surprised me because it was the first time he had done so for a long time and it made me feel something bad had happened,” said the mother.
She saw blood on the back of her son’s trousers. “I asked him about it, he said it was some food colouring powder then he said he fell and hurt his leg but I didn’t believe him and told my husband.”
The boy’s father MJ, 33, spoke to his son and eventually the boy told him he had been raped. The father confronted the rapist and demanded he leave the country, saying they would settle the matter in Afghanistan. Instead, a fight ensued in which the boy’s father was punched.
In addition to the jail term the court fined the rapist Dh1,100 and ordered him to be deported after serving his jail term.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
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Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
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According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
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- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
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